The guitarist that turned down working with Ozzy Osbourne
By the time the original Black Sabbath called it quits, Ozzy Osbourne would not go quietly. After becoming one of the most dynamic frontmen of all time, Osbourne pulled off one of the most impressive solo careers in history, earning massive hits off his debut album Blizzard of Ozz. While many aspiring guitarists would have dreamed of playing alongside ‘The Prince of Darkness’, one hard rock legend was comfortable enough to turn down the heavy metal titan.
When Osbourne started his solo career, there was more of a chance that he would have ended up as a rock and roll casualty than rising back to the top of the world. After he parted ways with Sabbath, Osbourne confessed to spending most of his time in various apartments drinking himself into oblivion, only to be pulled out of his funk by his wife and soon-to-be manager, Sharon Osbourne.
After assembling a new backing band behind him, Osbourne got a new partner in crime, Randy Rhoads, who brought a new positive spin to the sessions. Although Rhoads could blend various classical styles of music with his signature brand of aggression, his time with Osbourne would be all too brief, passing away after a tragic plane crash while on the road for the album Diary of a Madman.
While no one could fill Rhoads’s shoes convincingly, Osbourne thought he had an ace in the hole when he thought of Gary Moore. Having turned in time with Thin Lizzy and moving on to his solo career, the blues rock guitarist had the right flash and emotional flair to fit Osbourne’s group.
Once Osbourne set about talking to Moore about joining, the guitarist said that he wasn’t interested in playing Osbourne’s signature brand of heavy metal. Although he still greatly respected what Osbourne could do, he thought that his time would be better served. Instead, he focused on his solo career while helping the band find a replacement in time for the next record.
As original bassist Bob Daisley recalled, Moore remained professional about everything, saying, “Gary said, ‘Look, I’ll help you find a guitarist. Or, if you find a guitarist that you want my opinion on, I’ll help you that way.’ But he didn’t want to join Ozzy himself. But Gary had been Ozzy’s first choice. … You know, as it turned out, I think it all turned out for the best.”
While there was a strange wilderness period of Osbourne being joined by virtuoso shredder Brad Gillis for the live album Speak of the Devil, it would be Los Angeles guitarist Jake E Lee who would fill the guitar slot for the album Bark at the Moon. Instead of making a carbon copy of Rhoads’s sound, Lee’s strengths revolved around making Osbourne’s sound accessible for the hair metal movement, playing licks that fell more in line with what was going on with bands like Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe.
That didn’t stop Osbourne from trying to get more bluesy players on his roster, eventually working alongside guitar gods like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton when making his album Patient Number 9. Osbourne may have had solid credentials as a heavy metal singer, but it’s anyone’s guess what he would have sounded like if he had a guitarist who brought him back to his bluesy roots.
