Ozzy Osbourne Praises Randy Rhoads: “He Was The Beginning of Me”

Ozzy Osbourne praises Randy Rhoads: "He was the beginning of me"

Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne paid tribute to the late guitarist of his solo band, Randy Rhoads, in a new photo book by Ross Halfin which is dedicated to the guitarist. Osbourne spoke about Randy Rhoads not only as a guitarist, but also as a friend. Despite having known Rhoads for a few years, Osbourne feels it was much longer than that. Randy Rhoads is the guitarist of Ozzy Osbourne’s solo project, which he started after his Black Sabbath years. Rhoads helped the legendary vocalist write lyrics for the first two albums of Ozzy, namely, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. He passed away in a tragic accident on his tour with Ozzy Osbourne in 1982. Now, Rufus Publications will be releasing an exclusive photo book dedicated to the late guitarist. The book features Ozzy Osbourne’s thoughts about Randy Rhoads as well.

Ozzy Osbourne on Randy Rhoads:

“It’s weird, I only knew Randy for a couple of years, but it felt much longer. I felt like I knew him for my whole life. I still think about him a lot, and I do wonder what he would be doing now.”

While mentioning what a great guitar player he was, Ozzy Osbourne didn’t forget to talk about Rhoads as a dear friend.

“I owe him a huge amount – he was the beginning of me. He wasn’t just my guitarist, he was my friend. He was a monster of a player. What an incredible find he was. Randy was a great player and a good guy. He knew what he wanted…and wouldn’t stop ‘til he got it.”

Osbourne also told a story featuring Randy Rhoads in which the guitarist wrote the riff for Suicide Solution on the fly. Ozzy Osbourne caught up with the melody and wrote the lyrics spontaneously.

“He was great at coming up with riffs. I remember we were at a party in a rehearsal studio in London for the band Wild Horses. Everybody else was really fucked up, but Randy was sit-ting in a corner with his Flying V, just twiddling along on it. Suddenly he started playing this amazing riff. I went, “What the hell was that?” and he shrugged. I said, “Play it again,” and I started singing these words I had in my head over it: “Wine is fine, but whiskey’s quicker, suicide is slow with liquor…” That was Suicide Solution, written right there.” 

Randy Rhoads by Ross Halfin

The book has an introduction from Ozzy Osbourne and an epilogue from Tom Morello. It’s going to be available in three editions: the standard edition, a Deluxe Signed Leather Edition, and Super Deluxe Edition. The standard edition is just the book and a cloth slim case while the deluxe editions are going to feature autographs from Ozzy Osbourne and Ross Halfin.

“Randy Rhoads by Ross Halfin celebrates his time with Randy and Ozzy Osbourne both onstage and off with hundreds of beautiful, largely unseen images from those early years.” say Rufus Publications about their new book. You can pre-order Randy Rhoads by Ross Halfin from Rufus Publications. They earlier released a book dedicated to the Dio-era of Black Sabbath as well.

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