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Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne has been living with Parkinson's disease for years as he was first diagnosed in 2003.

In January, Ozzy, 71, and wife Sharon appeared on Good Morning America and revealed he had been diagnosed with the brain illness, following a year in which he'd battled other health problems, including pneumonia and spinal surgery, and postponed touring plans.

According to the Los Angeles Times, in a new interview, the rocker revealed he was first diagnosed with Parkinson's 17 years ago - and he'll carry on working as he's long been coping with his affliction.

"I'm not dying from Parkinson's," he says. "I've been working with it most of my life. I've cheated death so many times. If tomorrow you read 'Ozzy Osbourne never woke up this morning,' you wouldn't go, 'Oh, my God!' You'd go, 'Well, it finally caught up with him.'"

Ozzy's medication for his Parkinson's tremors do cause him short term memory loss, but the star says he's 75 per cent fit and wants to return to the road as soon as possible.

"People have written me off time and time again, but I kept coming back and I'm going to come back from this. When? I don't know," he adds. "I don't want to go back out there until I'm ready."

His No More Tours 2 trek is scheduled to get underway in May.