BLACK SABBATH bassist Geezer Butler received his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine earlier today (Friday, February 12).
The 71-year-old took to his Instagram to share that he got the final dose of the vaccine. He posted a photo of him wearing a face mask and sporting sticker on his left arm that reads: “I got my COVID-19 vaccine!” He wrote in an accompanying caption: “Second vaccination completed. Can I go to England now? #please #missingtherain #longestivebeenaway”.
Also today, Geezer‘s SABBATH bandmate Ozzy, who turned 72 in December, revealed that he received his first dose of the coronavirus vaccine on Thursday (February 11).
Last fall, Butler told Australia’s Wall Of Sound that he has used some of the downtime during the coronavirus pandemic to start work on a book.
“I’m currently putting together a book about growing up in Aston, Birmingham and how SABBATH came about,” he said, “but I’m really enjoying semi-retirement and not having to do anything or be anywhere, especially after being away from home for most of the last 50 years.”
Butler also reflected on everything he has achieved in this past half a century, saying: “It’s a great achievement to still be relevant 50 years after we recorded our first two albums. We honestly thought we’d last a few years, then be forgotten about. Fifty years ago any form of popular music was seen as a passing fad — people even thought THE BEATLES would be forgotten about after they broke up, but nobody then [realized] how powerful the nostalgia effect would be.”
A founding member of BLACK SABBATH, Butler is also the lyricist of such SABBATH classics as “War Pigs”, “Iron Man”, “Paranoid” and others.
Butler, Osbourne and guitarist Tony Iommi reunited in late 2011 and released a comeback album, “13”, in June 2013.
In February 2017, SABBATH finished “The End” tour in Birmingham, closing out the quartet’s groundbreaking 49-year career.
“The End” was SABBATH‘s last tour because Iommi, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 and is currently in remission, can no longer travel for extended amounts of time.