Former Ozzy Osbourne Guitarist Bernie Torme Dies

Former Ozzy Osbourne and Gillan guitarist Bernie Torme died on Sunday, March 17th after being hospitalized last month for pneumonia. He passed away one day shy of his 67th birthday.

Torme rose to fame as the guitarist in Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan's solo band and for a brief time toured with Ozzy Osbourne following the tragic death of Randy Rhoads in 1982.

Torme was hospitalized in intensive care last month. Some one in his camp broke the news via Facebook in mid-February with the following post, "Bernie Torme is extremely ill in intensive care with virulent double pneumonia. We ask for your prayers."

His Facebook then revealed on Monday that the guitarist had died with a simple photo with the caption that read "Bernie Tormey 18.3.1952 - 17.3.2019."

Ozzy reacted with this, "What a sad day. We've lost another great musician. Bernie was a gentle soul with a heart of gold. He will be dearly missed. I send my sincere condolences to his family, friends and fans. Rest in Peace Bernie.?"

Bernie had also worked with Twister Sister frontman Dee Snider in the Desperado project and Dee took to social media to pay tribute to his former bandmate.

Snider wrote, "Woke up to find out my friend @Bernie_Torme has died. He was a guitar god who played with @OzzyOsbourne & Ian Gillan. We worked together for 3 years, writing over 100 songs for the ill-fated Desperado. I loved that man & today my heart is broken. RIP Bernie. Your guitar weeps."

He shared a here in a follow-up tweet that read, "In memory of @Bernie_Torme here is link to Desperado's 'The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter'. One of my proudest moments as a song writer (co-writer with Bernie). Just LISTEN to this man's playing in his memory...& the late Clive Burr's too. RIPBernieTorme".

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