Ozzy Osbourne On Who’s Been His Favorite Guitarist To Work With As A Solo Artist
Ozzy Osbourne has worked with a number of incredible guitarists in his solo career, but in a new interview, the Prince of Darkness singles out one guitarist as his favorite.
Speaking to MSO PR to promote his new solo box set See You On The Other Side, Osbourne said, “Well, Randy Rhoads was the best. If I had to say which one of the guitar players you’d rather work with, who was the most musically trained, it was Randy, because he could write, he could read, he could play, he taught at his mother’s school, and he had patience with me. And he would work with me, as opposed to me having to work on top of what he put down. It was fun! Then he got tragically killed. And I’ll never forget it as long as I live. That story, we all know now. But, I mean, he was only a young man. He was in his early twenties. It just doesn’t seem right… I’m 70 years of age and it’s so sad when you think the guy got killed so early.”
Osbourne continued and shined some praise on his other guitarist saying, “And then there was Jake E. Lee, he was another great player. But then, Zakk [Wylde] is somewhere else, man! That guy gets faster and faster. Zakk has been with me longer than any guitar player ever! He’s been with me the longest and is one of the greatest friends I’ll ever have. He is a family member to me. I mean, if I ever really needed him for anything, I could phone him up and he’d say, ‘I’ll be there in five minutes.’ And vice-versa. Zakk’s a hard-working guy. He works his balls off.”
Osbourne has been sidelined for 2019 recovering from a number of health issues. He was set to return to the road in early 2020 for a European tour after recovering from a nasty fall in his home, but he was forced to postpone those dates due to needing more recovery time. Ozzy’s 2020 European tour dates ran from January through March. His next batch of U.S. tour dates is currently slated to begin in May. Wife/Manager Sharon Osbourne said in a recent interview that he will be releasing a new studio album in January, but no specific album details have been confirmed.
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