During a recent show of his spoken word tour, Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson answered a fan’s question about the original drummer of Black Sabbath, Bill Ward. In his response, Dickinson revealed whether Black Sabbath would exist without the contributions of Bill Ward.
As one of the former members of Black Sabbath, Bill Ward added the band’s music a unique sound with his jazz-inspired drumming style. He also demonstrated his singing skills in ‘Technical Ecstasy‘ and ‘Never Say Die.’ After years of influencing the rock music industry, he left Black Sabbath in 1980. Although they reunited four times over the years, he left the band in 2012 for the last time.
Bill Ward released three albums during his solo career. ‘Ward One: Along the Way,’ released in 1990, was his first album as a solo artist. It was followed by two other albums named ‘When the Bough Breaks’ and ‘Accountable Beasts.’ In 2019, Bill Ward accepted the Lifetime Achievement Grammy along with the other members of the band.
Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson is now also a spoken word performer. His recent spoken word tour, ‘An Evening with Bruce Dickinson,’ draws the attention of many rock fans from the United States and Canada. He speaks about various subjects onstage, including his personal life and professional career.
At the end of his spoken word shows, he allows the audience to ask him questions. At the end of his recent performance in San Francisco on March 3, he received an interesting question. A fan asked him if Black Sabbath could exist without Bill Ward. In his response, Bruce expressed his love for Bill Wards, and he continued his words by pointing out the real point; Black Sabbath doesn’t exist now.
Bruce Dickinson praised Bill Ward’s drumming skills:
“I’m a massive lover of Bill Ward’s drumming style; I think it’s inspired. ‘Cause he’s not really a rock drummer; he’s more like a jazz drummer playing rock. And I love that kind of style; it’s kind of like drums that kind of wander around the rhythm and everything else. But he’s on it; he’s brilliant. And I met him. He’s a lovely bloke as well. Slightly mad, but very nice. But then aren’t we all? All of us are on the madness spectrum a little bit.
Does Black Sabbath exist without Bill Ward? Well, it’s not a matter of… I don’t think Black Sabbath exists at all now.“
Then, he also took a wife at Ozzy Osbourne’s wife Sharon and said:
“I think Sharon’s made sure of that.”
Dickinson stated that according to him, Ward was not a rock drummer. The vocalist thinks Ward was ‘more like a jazz drummer playing rock.’ Bruce also noted that Bill was slightly mad as well as brilliant. Considering his statement on whether Black Sabbath would exist without Ward, Dickinson believes the question is irrelevant since the band doesn’t exist anymore.
