SAVATAGE's JON OLIVA diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and Ménière's Disease
20-09-2023
SAVATAGE mastermind Jon Oliva has explained his absence from the band’s upcoming appearance at the 2025 edition of Brazil’s Monsters Of Rock festival, set to take place on April 19 in São Paulo. Joining SAVATAGE on the bill will be SCORPIONS, JUDAS PRIEST, EUROPE, QUEENSRŸCHE, OPETH and STRATOVARIUS.
According to the festival’s official web site, SAVATAGE‘s lineup for the 2025 performance will consist of Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, Chris Caffery on guitar, Al Pitrelli on guitar, Jeff Plate on drums and Zak Stevens on lead vocals.
Earlier today (Tuesday, October 29), Oliva released the following statement via social media: “Hello SAVATAGE fans, this is Jon Oliva. I want to set a few things straight for everyone. First of all, I am very excited for Johnny, Chris, Zak, Jeff & Al to play again. I feel it’s important for the fans to enjoy our music live, and believe me these guys will kick ass.
“As far as I go, I was going to do these shows but unfortunately, I’ve run into more health issues. I want you all to know that if there was any way I could do these shows I would, but my health issues are more serious than I originally thought.
“As most of you know I fractured my spine in 3 places and have recently been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis as well as Ménière’s disease. My doctors are working with me to get healthy again.
“I am working closely with the guys and will be involved in every other aspect of the show. I am 100 percent behind the guys doing this and I promise I will return as soon as possible. In the meantime, I am working in the studio on new material.
“I love you all and thank you for understanding my situation, I know my brothers will deliver the goods.
“Enjoy Sava Legions.
“Much love to you all. Jon Oliva“.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Ménière’s disease is a disorder of the inner ear that causes severe dizziness (vertigo), ringing in the ears (tinnitus), hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness or congestion in the ear. Ménière’s disease usually affects only one ear, but in 15% to 25% of people with the disorder, both ears may be affected.
Zak joined SAVATAGE in 1992 as the replacement for Jon Oliva. Zak sang on four albums with the band — “Edge Of Thorns” (1993),“Handful Of Rain” (1994),“Dead Winter Dead” (1995) and “The Wake Of Magellan” (1997) — before departing in 2000, allowing Jon to return. Both Jon and Zak took part in SAVATAGE‘s 2015 performance at Wacken Open Air, which marked the band’s first, and only so far, appearance on stage since they went on hiatus back in 2002.
SAVATAGE‘s last album release, “Poets And Madmen”, in 2001 was highlighted by Jon‘s return as lead vocalist, replacing Zak, who left the band citing family reasons, and the departure of guitarist Al Pitrelli, who accepted an offer to join MEGADETH in 2000. Pitrelli did record solos for some songs prior to his departure. Another very limited U.S. tour followed, supported by FATES WARNING in the early shows, and then NEVERMORE for the remainder. Around this time, Jon chose Zak‘s replacement in the form of Damond Jiniya (DIET OF WORMS). Damond performed Zak‘s parts on tour, with Jon having an increased vocal role in proceedings.
In September 2021, Jon Oliva was arrested on the west central coast of Florida for driving under the influence as well as possession of a controlled substance. Police charged Oliva with possession of cocaine, which is a felony, and DUI, which is a misdemeanor. Oliva was reportedly arrested again in July 2023 on another cocaine possession charge.
Back in 2016, Jon announced on social media that he suffered a stroke in April of that year. At the time, he said: “It was not as serious as it could have been, but it did leave me with some physical recovery challenges often associated with strokes.”
Despite his health issues, Jon said that he didn’t regret the way he had lived his life. He wrote: “I lived the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle since I was 18. It’s all I knew and I enjoyed the ride very much. But there comes a time in everyone’s life where you have to step back and make some life-changing decisions… which I have.”
Shortly after SAVATAGE‘s reunion performance at the 2015 Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany, Oliva claimed that he felt better than he had in 20 years because he had “stopped drinking and eating” in preparation for the concert. He explained: “It’s my voice that’s freaking me out, because, even when I was in my late 20s, early 30s, doing songs like ’24 Hours Ago’ were always really hard to do. And, of course, I didn’t realize that it was all the drugs and alcohol I was doing. But, after doing that, getting my act together and stuff, singing ’24 Hours Ago’, it’s actually easy now. (Laughs)”
In addition to his work with SAVATAGE, Oliva is well known for co-creating the classical music-meets-prog rock and pyro act TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA alongside the project’s founder Paul O’Neill. Oliva has reportedly remained involved in TSO‘s activities even after O’Neill‘s April 2017 death of an accidental drug overdose.
Jon‘s brother Criss, who was one of the founding members of SAVATAGE, was killed in October 1993 by a drunk driver when he and his wife Dawn were en route to the Livestock festival in Zephyrhills, Florida. The driver of the other car was found to have a drunk driving record of seven prior DUIs and having a blood alcohol content of .294 percent.
This past April, Oliva told Sakis Fragos of Greece’s Rock Hard that the next SAVATAGE album would “fuck people up. It’s that good.” He added: “I’ve made these mistakes before. I’m not making these mistakes now. I’m not rushing it… No fucking way. ‘Cause this will probably be the last album we ever do. And I’m gonna make sure that it’s a 10 out of a 10.”
Oliva went on to say that there were plenty of ideas to choose from for SAVATAGE‘s upcoming LP. “I have enough material right now for three albums,” he told Rock Hard. “And what I’m going to do is I’m going to condense it down. I’m gonna try to condense it down to one album with three bonus tracks. I’m gonna record everything when I get the guys down here. So we’re gonna record all the shit that we’ve got. And in case I wanna do another album, I’ll have it all ready to go. That’s the gameplan.”
Regarding the musical direction of the new SAVATAGE material, Jon said: “Some of this shit is really strong. I’m even looking at myself going, ‘Holy shit. This is really strong.’ And the fact that you’re gonna have me and SAVATAGE singer Zak (Stevens) sharing the vocals and doing songs together in like a duet thing, is even more… it blows me away. I purposely wrote five or six songs specifically for Zak to sing. And then I worked on a lot of songs with Al Pitrelli (guitar) that are definitely, ‘These are Oliva songs.’ And then we have a couple of big epic songs.
“This is gonna be the best album I ever made,” Oliva promised. “Unless I kill myself. All I know is that the SAVA fans are gonna be fucking blown away when they hear this. They’re gonna be blown away. I wasn’t gonna do the SAVATAGE thing and just do a half-assed album. If I’m doing this album, it’s gonna be the best album I’ve ever done. ‘Cause when I go out, I wanna go out on top.”
Jon went on to say that a new SAVATAGE song called “For The Man Who Would Be King” is one that he sometimes refers to as “the new ‘Morphine Child’,” a nod to the track on SAVATAGE‘s 2001 album “Poets And Madmen”. “And that’s one that me and Zak are gonna do together,” he explained. “And then it’s got this big middle section that’s all these QUEEN, operatic-style vocals. I’m, like, ‘Wow, this is gonna be epic.'”
Regarding which other musicians will be involved in the recording process for the new SAVATAGE album, Jon said: “I’m gonna have former SAVATAGE drummer Steve Wacholz come in and play on a couple of songs. But Jeff Plate (drums), Johnny (Lee Middleton, bass), Al Pitrelli (guitar), Chris Caffery (guitar), Zak, me, and on a couple of things I’m gonna have Jane Mangini (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA keyboardist) come in and play. And maybe the Ukrainian guy Vitalij Kuprij… ‘Cause I have a couple of things that are beyond my capabilities of playing, and I figured instead of me spending a month trying to play this, I’ll have one of these guys… My keyboard players with TSO, they’re some of the best in the world — by far. So I’m, like, ‘Oliva, are you stupid? Why you are gonna sit there and try to…? You can’t do it. With four arms you couldn’t do it.'”
He continued: “I’m getting everybody involved from the beginning. I want it to be a full-band album, all of us working together. And it’s gonna be great.”
Asked about a possible title for the new SAVATAGE album, Jon said: “The working title is ‘Curtain Call’, but I don’t know if that’s gonna be it. ‘Cause the very last song that’s gonna be on the album is this song called ‘Curtain Call’, and it’s just me with a piano, and it’s very deep. It’s basically me singing to the fans, telling them all goodbye and thank you. Every time I hear it, I cry. Everybody I played it for cries. It’s just very deep. But it’s my way of saying goodbye to everybody. ‘Thank you. I love you all. And this is my final goodbye. Thank you. Have a good life. And do whatever.’ So I think I’m gonna call it ‘Curtain Call’, but it’s not in stone yet.”
Zak joined SAVATAGE in 1992 as the replacement of Oliva. Zak sang on four albums with the band — “Edge Of Thorns” (1993),“Handful Of Rain” (1994),“Dead Winter Dead” (1995) and “The Wake Of Magellan” (1997) — before departing in 2000, allowing Jon to return. Both Jon and Zak took part in SAVATAGE‘s 2015 performance at Wacken Open Air, which marked the band’s first, and only so far, appearance on stage since they went on hiatus back in 2002.
SAVATAGE‘s last album release, “Poets And Madmen”, in 2001 was highlighted by Jon‘s return as lead vocalist, replacing Zak, who left the band citing family reasons, and the departure of guitarist Al Pitrelli, who accepted an offer to join MEGADETH in 2000. Pitrelli did record solos for some songs prior to his departure. Another very limited U.S. tour followed, supported by FATES WARNING in the early shows, and then NEVERMORE for the remainder. Around this time, Jon chose Zak‘s replacement in the form of Damond Jiniya (DIET OF WORMS). Damond performed Zak‘s parts on tour, with Jon having an increased vocal role in proceedings.
In September 2021, Jon Oliva was arrested on the west central coast of Florida for driving under the influence as well as possession of a controlled substance. Police charged Oliva with possession of cocaine, which is a felony, and DUI, which is a misdemeanor.
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