Watch Ozzy Osbourne praise 'gift from God' Randy Rhoads in new documentary
"One thing that he gave me was hope, a reason for carrying on.”
Last updated 6th Aug 2021
A sneak peak clip of a new two-hour Ozzy Osbourne documentary called Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne has premiered, which sees Ozzy heap praise on late-great guitarist Randy Rhoads.
Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads first met in September 1979 when Ozzy was on a downward spiral five months on from being fired from Black Sabbath. Ozzy was famously so blown away by Randy Rhoads’ guitar playing at the audition that he hired him on the spot.
In the clip from Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne, which airs Stateside next Monday (7th September) on A&E, Ozzy talks about how Randy Rhoads revived his career.
Commenting on the start of his post-Sabbath solo career, Ozzy said: “I wanted to be more mainstream without selling out. I wanted to be more accessible. It was a slow process at first until I met someone who put me in touch with Randy Rhoads and it kind of all clicked together then.
“When I first met (Randy) I was f---ing out of my face and he came in about this big and this thin (makes small hand gestures) in high-heeled shoes, and then he started to play and I just went (speechless)… and that was it!”
Concurring, Sharon Osbourne says in the video: “As soon as he found Randy it was like night and day. He was alive again. Randy, a breath of fresh air; funny, ambitious, just a great guy.”
Ozzy adds later in the clip: “I knew instinctively he was something extra special, he was like a gift from God… we worked so well together, Randy and I were like a team… one thing that he gave me was hope, a reason for carrying on.”
A synopsis for Biography: The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne reads: ‘(The documentary) traces Ozzy’s life from his childhood in poverty and time in prison, to fronting legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Black Sabbath and successful Grammy Award-winning solo career, to one of rock’s elder statesman and a loveable 21st century television dad.”
Randy Rhoads died on 19th March 1982 in an aircraft crash while on tour with Ozzy Osbourne. He was just 25 years old.
Ozzy Osbourne’s No More Tours 2 is still listed as hitting the UK & Ireland this October and November for shows in Newcastle, Glasgow, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin and Nottingham.
Ozzy has suffered a torrid past 18 months health-wise, contracting pneumonia, injuring his neck in a serious fall and revealing his Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.