Rockdetector: Ozzy Osbourne
|
Garry Sharpe-Young  the story of the Ozzy Osbourne band
Until 1978 THE original and definitive Heavy Metal band BLACK SABBATH was fronted by the irrepressible Ozzy Osbourne. With Osbourne at the helm BLACK SABBATH sold tens of millions of albums. When he finally broke away to fly solo Ozzy would achieve the unthinkable. Not only would he deliver one of the seminal Rock records ever crafted to mark his resurrection but he also used it as a career making catalyst that would see him trounce his former band mates and evolve into a cult icon. Along the way Ozzy displayed an enviable knack of choosing a series of groundbreaking guitarists such as Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde. There would also be the unsung heroes such as songwriter extraordinaire Bob Daisley and a series of world renowned bassists, drummers and keyboard players. This then is the story of the Ozzy Osbourne band - in their own words and detailed exclusively here for the first time. Chronicled with first-hand interviews, this is the real story of the first prototype Blizzard of Ozz band, how Ozzy met Randy Rhoads, the painful saga of Rhoads’ replacement Bernie Torme and the torturous audition processes for successive guitarists and drummers told by both successful and unsuccessful candidates. The Ozzy Osbourne story - as told by Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Tommy Aldridge, Bernie Torme, Brad Gillis, Steve Vai, Phil Soussan, Carmine Appice and many, many more. Garry Sharpe-Young has interviewed more than twenty Ozzy band members and associates solely for this work so making it the most detailed account of Ozzy’s career so far |
CHORDS OF DISQUIET
With the inevitable disintegration of Black Sabbath in
the late 70's Ozzy had motivated himself to set about creating a fresh band.
Ozzy's personal assistant at the time was Dave Tangye ('Tang') who also happened
to manage Cumbrian heavy rock band Necromandus. Created under the original name
of Hot Spring Water the quartet comprised vocalist Bill Branch, guitarist Barry
Dunnery, bass player Dennis McCarten and drummer Frank Hall. A name change to
Heavy Hand led eventually to Necromandus, a fusing of the words 'Nostradamus'
and 'Necromancy'.
Frank Hall's first memories of Ozzy Osbourne date as far back
as 1969. Black Sabbath would often play the gig circuit around the Lake District
and it would be at one of the bands very first gigs that Ozzy came to the fore.
"I first clapped eyes on Ozzy at the Towbar club in Nethertown
in Cumbria," the drummer recalls. His memories of a pre-stardom Ozzy are
in stark contrast to the onstage persona that would come to be known by millions. "I
remember talking to Bill Ward who told me 'He's not long been out of prison'
to which I replied; 'Better to break into music than houses I suppose!' Ozzy
was a dramatic figure- he was really like a wild man. Onstage he used to whip
his head up and down really, really fast and put his finger in his ear while
he sang! I noticed he soon stopped doing that! The thing was though is that he
was in fact a really friendly bloke, actually quite shy and nervous".
Ozzy's evolving dress sense, rarely captured in photographs during the formative
years, would also give cause for concern. "In the early days he would always
go onstage barefoot. God knows why. He certainly had a presence all of his own.
I don't know why I remember this but he was wearing black cordurouy trousers
at that first gig. His hair was this long brown shaggy Rod Stewart kind of cut,
spiky on top." This is not to say Frank too would not get caught up in the
rock n' roll image stakes. "I had very long black hair and I would wear
a black raven's feather in it," he admits. "People would say "What
tribe are you from?"
Tony Iommi too would make an impression for reasons out of keeping
with his media persona. "Tony is a great practical joker" Frank confides. "Both
he and Ozzy are very, very funny but in different ways. Tony would often wind
Ozzy up by putting eggs in his bed every night." (As we shall see this jape
would be handed down through the rock generations in later years).
Besides playing together on the live circuit the band already
had a strong Black Sabbath connection having cut a 1973 album Orexis Of Death
for Vertigo Records during 1973 with Tony Iommi at the production desk. The Black
Sabbath guitarist also had Necromandus signed up to his Tramp agency. Also involved
with the agency were Judas Priest manager Dave Corke, one of the undisputed maverick
legends of rock management, and Norman Hood. Necromandus would tour the Midlands
area with Judas Priest as support band. "Priest had Al Atkins singing back
then," Frank Hall affirms. "They did a lot of gigs with us and they
had this great drummer, a black guy called Chris Campbell. Their manager Dave
Corke would always buy my clothes from me for some odd reason. I would walk into
the agency office with a pair of jeans and a denim jacket and Dave would say "How
much do you want for those?" So I'd sell them and walk out virtually naked.
Dave was a Hell of a character. Once he organised this freshman's
ball gig with Necromandus, Vivian Stanshell and Keith Moon. As you can imagine
it turned into a night of absolute lunacy."
The Necromandus album has been a constant source of fascination
for Black Sabbath fanatics. Frank unveils the makings of a bona fide lost classic. "There
were two attempts at making the album. The first was at the Marquee Studios at
the back of the Marquee Club and the second was in Blue Mink's Morgan Studios.
The first time we came out with some pretty scrappy songs so Tony Iommi more
or less said; "Go away and come up with some better songs."
The new material more than came up to scratch. Hall describes
the bands music as 'Progressive rock' not too far removed from today's acts such
as Spock's Beard and Dream Theater. Finally getting down to recording Necromandus
found they were not the only ones ensconced in Morgan Studios. "Yes were
there recording Tales from Topographic Oceans, Hall recalls. "I saw Jon
Anderson walking in the middle of the street one day and told him, "You're
from The Warriors!" I used to go and see him with that band before he joined
YES. As you can imagine he was quite surprised. But we got talking and he introduced
me to Rick Wakeman."
The world-renowned keyboard maestro was doubling up on duties
at the time recording for Yes and mixing his own solo work The Six Wives Of Henry
VIII. Necromandus were on the night shift starting work at 9 in the evening and
emerging as dawn broke. Frank was forthright in his approach to Rick. "We
had this one track which I really thought could benefit from an outro using cellos,
violins and keyboards so being cheeky I asked Rick if he would do it. I really
got into his ribs about it, really pestered him but in the end it turned out
he wanted to do it anyway. "Yes" he said "I'll do it for a crate
of Guinness!" Rick actually thought it was a good idea."
This union never transpired though as Frank relates. "When
I told Tony that Rick wanted to put piano on this song he simply didn't believe
me. Tony's first question was "What does he want?". He thought Rick
would charge us megabucks. I told him he only wanted a crate of Guinness but
it just didn't happen because Tony thought I was only joking and naturally thought
too much money would be involved. I'm sure Rick would have done it for the beer."
The focal point of NECROMANDUS was always guitarist Barry 'Baz'
Dunnery. Although never to break into the public arena Dunnery's talents left
many open mouthed in astonishment. "He was incredibly fast," reckons
Hall. "I remember Steve Howe being very impressed as Baz was going through
his legato runs and speed picking. I'll never forget that look on Steve's face,
like, 'fucking hell! What's he doing?'"
Ozzy's reputation for targeting guitarists with exceptional abilities
was evident even then. With Black Sabbath on a global commercial high the singer
had nevertheless earmarked Dunnery as Frank Hall explains. "Everyone knows
Baz's brother Francis from It Bites but believe me Baz leaves his brother standing.
Baz was, and is, a fantastic guitarist. Both Ozzy and Glenn Hughes really rated
him. Ozzy, I'll never forget, really tried to push Baz. He told Baz that he had
the world at his feet."
Iommi himself would guest on one track though putting guitar down on 'One Fine
Lad', a song about army life. However, Frank has some problems with remembering
which song was which because, for a reason the drummer never discovered, all
of the song titles would be changed. "The first Necromandus single was to
be 'Don't Look Down Frank', a song about me. For some reason that title got changed
to 'Nightjar'. All the titles were changed."
With Black Sabbath riding high internationally, an Iommi production
credit, a guitar hero in the making and signed to a major label it seemed as
though the future looked bright indeed for Necromandus. It was not to be. Orexis
Of Death was shelved. The reasoning behind the decision remaining a mystery for
nearly three decades.
"The album was axed because Baz left the band," Frank
sighs resignedly. "He said that he didn't want to go but he felt he had
a conflict with the musical direction of the band. This was our big chance. We
just couldn't understand it at all. We were devastated." With Dunnery out
of the picture Iommi thought Necromandus was dead in the water. "We offered
to try and get another guitarist as good as Baz but Tony thought this would be
unlikely. He was right. We tried to get someone to keep the band going and get
the album out but it was just impossible. Then of course Black Sabbath got back
out onto the road so Tony was busy with that and the whole thing was just forgotten."
Frank though was picked out by Glenn Hughes, vocalist for noted
funk-rockers Trapeze. "Glenn was always asking for Necromandus to open for
Trapeze. He asked me to consider joining the band because he could see things
were shaky with Necromandus. I was just so low and disappointed by the whole
thing at that point I went back home."
The Orexis Of Death album would remain consigned to the vaults
until the late 90's when curiosity regarding all things doom-laden prompted its
semi-official release on a series of small labels.
With Necromandus consigned to the history books Hall travelled
back up to his native Cumbria soon reforging links with Dunnery in a band called
Nerves. At first a covers act, Nerves, with Steven Hatfield on keyboards and
Don McKay on vocals, would evolve into the hard edged R&B outfit Tantrum.
Hall's musical career gradually fizzled out and the drummer would find himself
working on a building site to make ends meet. Returning home from work one day
in 1976 he would be given a jolt to see a familiar car outside his house.
"I recognized it straight away," he declares. "It
was Ozzy's Range Rover. I got inside the house and there in my living room was
Dave Tangye- Ozzy's P.A, Baz and one other guy." Frank and Dave Tangye went
back a long way; "I actually got Dave the job with Ozzy," Frank maintains. "Ozzy
asked me one day if I knew of someone to mind him and I suggested Dave straight
away. I told Ozzy he was totally trustworthy and you can rely on him. Dave became
Ozzy's P.A. and minder for many years."
Tangye did the talking. Frank remembers the exact words. "Right,
Ozzy wants a guitarist, bassist and drummer and you lot in Necromandus are the
likely candidates." Piling into Ozzy's car the new recruits journeyed down
to Staffordshire and Ozzy's home at Bullrush Cottage. Enter Blizzard of Ozz…
The original incarnation of Blizzard of Ozz was in an enviable
position. Ozzy was a globally known figure and with Baz Dunnery the quartet was
blessed with a world class guitarist. Frank Hall had many reasons to be optimistic. "Ozzy
had a lot of offers on the table from a few record companies. The potential was
just huge at that point because the press would jump on any new Ozzy album. Ozzy
was really keen to show the world how good Baz was too."
The musical persuasion of the inaugural Blizzard Of Ozz was not
what the average Black Sabbath fan would have ever anticipated, however, as Frank
elaborates. "Necromandus was always a kind of progressive, Jazzy type rock
band. I suppose you could put us in the same camp as Greenslade or Gentle Giant-
that type of thing. We didn't actually change much when we worked up the songs
with Ozzy. Some of the material was extremely complex, lots of time changes and
it sounded great. Ozzy of course wanted heavyweight detuned guitars all the time
but the combination really was striking."
The band spent over a month working up new songs and gathered
together some 15 or so, enough to be whittled down for a full album's compliment.
The chaotic circumstances prevailing in Ozzy's personal and business life would
take their toll though. "Ozzy was having a really hard time dealing with
a lot of Black Sabbath stuff, his personal life and management troubles too.
He had an awful lot to contend with." Frank confirms.
Naturally these early sessions would be peppered with famous
Ozzy tomfoolery. "It was a fun summer!" the drummer laughs. "I
don't know how we managed to get so much work done. Ozzy would often seek what
he called "Inspiration" at his local pub the 'Hand & Cleaver'.
By the time he got back around 11 at night he would want to rehearse!
I remember one night Ozzy got really bothered by rats. He had this old dog kennel
at the back of his house and he was obsessed with the idea it was full of rats.
Well, He had been talking about rats all day and then suddenly I saw him marching
off to this kennel with a can in his hand. "Where are you going with that
petrol can?" I said. Before I could stop him he had covered this thing with
petrol and set light to it. Now, Ozzy was growing a beard at the time and he
was standing far too close to this building when he lit it. Boof! It went up
in flames and blew back on Ozzy, singing off his beard and eyebrows!"
Frank would witness another Ozzy trick that had the band members
fearing for their singer's life. "There was a field at the back of Ozzy's
place that he rented out to the local football team. In the corner of this field
was a large pond. Well, one day Ozzy got into his Range Rover and, God knows
why, drove straight into the middle of this pond! Ozzy thought it was hilarious
until he realized the car was stuck in the mud. Not only that but it was sinking
with Ozzy in it! I mean- it was going down fast! We thankfully got him out but
it he had to wait for his car until the farmer pulled it out in the morning with
his tractor."
The band did manage to prevent one of Ozzy's potentially near
fatal exploits though. "We were having this big barbecue one day" Frank
reminisces. "Ozzy is a great cook and would come up with these fantastic
curries. God knows what he would put in them because we would feel stoned for
days afterwards! Anyway, we were eating and this helicopter was flying low over
Ozzy's house which really bothered him. I seem to remember he thought it was
the press trying to get some pictures. Ozzy loved shotguns, and so he marched
into his house and got out this Remington pump-action shotgun and started to
fire at the bloody helicopter! We just managed to stop him but he did get a few
shots at the thing."
All these exploits (and many more besides) were naturally having
a serious effect on the work schedule. "Baz got very disillusioned with
it all. We spoke one night and agreed to move out. It was a shame because the
music was great- I could still sit down and play it today.
"Ozzy was obviously having to deal with too many things
at once. Baz was being approached by other bands at the time- he was asked to
replace Peter Banks in Flash. Some friends of mine from Barrow-in-Furness knew
Phil Collins well and had recommended me for the position in Genesis. They liked
my jazz-rock style but of course I was with Ozzy at the time and had to decline
the offer."
And so Blizzard of Ozz Mark I split up. McCarten joined Birmingham
band Grit while Dunnery and Hall reformed Nerves back in Cumbria. There were
no hard feelings and Hall, along with his parents, would be invited to Ozzy's
house for a mammoth celebratory bash in honour of the Queen's silver jubilee
in 1977. This is when the drummer would discover Ozzy had other strings to his
bow besides singing.
"For that party the house was totally crammed- hundreds
of people" he recounts. "My Mum and Dad were in awe. My Mum always
tells people that she slept in Ozzy's bed. She did actually, Ozzy let her have
his big four poster covered in carved gargoyles for the night.
That day I found John in his sitting room. Now he had this very
impressive and extremely expensive Steinway piano in there. Ozzy showed me that
there were more ways than one to play it. I couldn't believe my eyes when he
climbed up on top of it. He stood on it and urinated inside it. He was playing
the strings by directing this endless stream of urine trying to get a tune! We
were in absolute hysterics and I was pushing against the door as hard as I could
praying my Mother wouldn't try to come in!" Beat that, Keith Emerson.
In later years Dunnery would become a member of the ELO offshoot
Violinski whilst Hall's career has most recently seen him playing with jazz band
The Children. He can also be found touting his own band project, The Binmen,
also featuring former Sweet singer Malcolm McNulty.
Meanwhile, with the Necromandus musicians no longer on the scene,
Ozzy had another stab at forging the Blizzards. His manager, the ubiquitous Don
Arden, had discovered that a band an acquaintance of his handled business affairs
for were in limbo. That band was Dirty Tricks, currently signed to Polydor Records,
and had just completed a run of three albums, the first of which happened to
be produced by Rodger Bain- the man responsible for the early Black Sabbath albums.
The band comprised vocalist Kenny Stewart, guitarist John Fraser Binnie, bass
player Terry Horbury and drummer Andy Bierne. Arden played Ozzy the band's new
tapes, for the Tony Visconti-produced Hit And Run album, to favourable response
and a meeting was duly arranged.
Bassist Terry Horbury takes up the tale. "We'd split up
really. But the three of us, myself, John and Andy stuck together planning on
starting another band. Our manager had decided he wanted out of the business
but unfortunately would not let us out of contract so we were in an impossible
situation. It wasn't just that. Punk and New Wave had come in and really set
us back too. For Dirty Tricks to do a gig we'd need our full crew, etc which
was costly but these new bands would just turn up and plug in. Basically we were
in a jam.
'What happened though was that we got the call to meet up with
Ozzy. We first met him in Don Arden's office in London, we all had a banter then
arranged to travel up to Ozzy's house near Stafford to get some songs together.
So, we all went up to Ozzy's place. I think all in all we stayed there three
weeks. I remember that almost as soon as we arrived Ozzy seemed distracted by
something outside the window. Next thing we knew he's grabbed this shotgun and
then we see he's crawling along the hedgerow like a commando. Well, after a time
he came back with this dead partridge he'd just shot. He just stood there with
a big grin on his face dripping blood all over our guitarist's wah wah pedal.
That was our 'Ozzy greeting' if you like.
It was quite a house. In the yard Ozzy had this big bus he had
brought. He was in the middle of turning it into a tour bus. He's ripped out
all the seats and was painting it black inside and out. Ozzy had Marshall amps
and cabs everywhere, which for poor musicians like us were the holy grail, but
he was using them for tables! Oddly though, despite the Marshalls everywhere
else, he had no P.A. set-up in the actual rehearsal room. What he did have in
there was a Revox tape recorder, a microphone and a large stuffed bear which
looked like it had been attacked a few times!"
There would be no hint of the former material in use as this
new proto Blizzard of Ozz Mark II started out from scratch and writing new material.
Terry Horbury: "It was a bit like an old Blues session really because the
only way Ozzy could record was through this Revox. We'd be blaring away and we
could see him singing, reading ideas from his lyric books he had, but not hear
him. It was only when we played the tapes back we got the full picture."
Terry remembers distinctly the name 'Blizzard Of Ozz" being
mentioned as the monicker for the band. Pointedly, no Black Sabbath material
was attempted.
"I don't ever recall doing any Sabbath songs. Ozzy said
that we would probably do 'Paranoid' as an encore or something but he wanted
all new stuff. I think all in all we got about half a dozen songs together. It
was good stuff, just good solid Hard rock. I've still got tapes of the rehearsals.
The problem was that, to be truthful, Ozzy really wasn't in the
best shape to get a band together at that time. We would be ready to work at
10.30 but Ozzy wouldn't wake until midday and then he'd go down to the local
pub until 4. Glenn Hughes came round once while we were there. I'll never forget
it, Glenn was so out of shape that after he had sat down in a chair he found
he couldn't get up again! We all had to lift him out of the thing- he had literally
become part of the furniture!
With Ozzy though it's just so easy to forget because he was full-on all the time.
Every five minutes he would tell us a hilarious story about his past. One of
the few I remember was that apparently one day Ozzy and Geezer were standing
next to each other at the urinals having a piss. Ozzy, for some reason, had a
can of silver spray paint in his pocket so he whips this out and sprays Geezer's
manhood with it! Of course Geezer couldn't do anything because he was in mid
stream so just had to stand there while he was sprayed silver! We'd get about
a hundred stories like that every day. So much so that we actually had some serious
discussions between the three of us just what we were letting ourselves in for!
'Ozzy was having a real hard time of it really. Money was a big
problem, Ozzy even told us it would be a good idea if we all signed on the dole
in Birmingham!"
The three musicians suggested to Ozzy that rather than travelling
to Staffordshire it would be more practical to pursue matters in London. "Ozzy
thought this was a good idea too so I went ahead and booked a month's rehearsal
at The Tunnel studios for us" relates Terry. "The day before we were
scheduled to go in I phoned Ozzy to make arrangements and he simply said "Oh,
I've just rejoined Black Sabbath". So that was that."
After their Ozzy adventure the Dirty Tricks musicians would all
follow differing paths. Binnie wound up with the much vaunted Rogue Male. Horbury
and Bierne would work with Alvin Lee for a while before the bassist hooked up
with German ex-UFO guitarist Michael Schenker and then Vardis. He would also
become acquainted with another figure in the Ozzy saga- Bob Daisley.
"There was a time when Bob was in Uriah Heep but had got
the call to go back to Ozzy. We were trying to work out a plan for me to temporarily
fill Bob's role in Heep while he sorted out the Ozzy thing. Although I would
have loved to have done I was committed to another band at the time so it never
happened."
top
