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Randy Rhoads

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For the talk radio host, see Randi Rhodes. For the guitar model, see Jackson Randy Rhoads

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Randall William "Randy" Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American heavy metal guitarist who is best known for playing with Ozzy Osbourne. Despite his short career, he is cited as an influence by many contemporary heavy metal guitarists. His unique neo-classical metal style of playing set him apart from other guitarists of the early 1980s. He was a devoted student of classical guitar, and he used this talent in rock guitar studies. While on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, he would often seek out classical guitar tutors for lessons.

History

Early life

Rhoads was born on December 6, 1956 at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California. He was the youngest of three children. His older brother, Doug, is a drummer who goes by the name of Kelle Rhoads. His sister's name is Kathy.

When Randy was 17 months old, his father, William Arthur Rhoads, left his mother, Delores Rhoads, and the three children. Mrs. Rhoads has owned and operated the Musonia School of Music in North Hollywood, California since 1949. Rhoads started playing guitar at age 6 on his grandfather's old Gibson "Army-Navy" classical acoustic guitar. According to Rhoads's mother, he learned to play folk guitar, which was a popular way to learn guitar at the time, although he did not take lessons for very long. Rhoads was always evolving toward a hard rock/metal lead guitar style, but he was heavily influenced by classical music as well. This can be heard on tracks like "Dee" (an instrumental he named for his mother Delores), "Mr. Crowley", "Diary of a Madman", "Crazy Train" and "Revelation (Mother Earth)".

Quiet Riot

Before Rhoads was in Violet Fox, he was in a short-lived band called "The Whore".[citation needed] By the time Rhoads was 14, he was in a band called Violet Fox (after his mother's middle name, Violet). Rhoads taught his best friend Kelly Garni how to play bass, and together they formed Quiet Riot when Rhoads was about 17 (according to Rhoads' mother). Kevin DuBrow auditioned for vocalist in Rhoads' kitchen after he convinced Rhoads and Garni to give him a chance. The drummer, Drew Forsyth, was already in the picture and had periodically played with Rhoads and Garni in the past.

Quiet Riot initially played in small bars in Hollywood and local parties in Burbank, eventually playing at the two main L.A. music clubs of the day - the Whisky a Go Go, and The Starwood. While the band had a strong following in the L.A. club scene, they were unable to secure a major recording contract in the United States. Eventually, however, the band was able to land a record deal with a Japanese label and Quiet Riot's self-titled debut album was released in Japan.

In 1978, Garni left the band to pursue a career as a paramedic, and was replaced by future Ozzy Osbourne bassist Rudy Sarzo. The band then released Quiet Riot II. Although Sarzo appeared on the cover photo for Quiet Riot II, he did not play on either of the Japanese releases.

Career with Ozzy Osbourne

In 1979, ex-Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne was forming a new band. Future Slaughter bassist Dana Strum recommended Rhoads to Osbourne. Rhoads got the call for the audition just before the last Quiet Riot gig. He walked in with his signature polka-dot Flying V made by Carl Sandoval guitar and a Fender practice amp and started warming up; Osbourne immediately gave him the job. Rhoads recalled later, "I just tuned up and did some riffs, and he said, 'You've got the gig.' I had the weirdest feeling, because I thought, 'You didn't even hear me yet.'" Osbourne described Rhoads' playing as "God entering my life." Rhoads subsequently recommended his friend Greg Leon, who also taught guitar at Musonia for Rhoads' mother, to replace him in Quiet Riot, as Rhoads packed his bags and headed off to the UK.

They arrived in England in March 1980 to begin working on their first album. Rhoads and Osbourne met up with bassist Bob Daisley in an English pub. Osbourne heard good things about Bob Daisley's playing in Rainbow, so he asked him to join his band; Daisley accepted. Osbourne and company auditioned many drummers but were being pressured by the record company, Jet Records, to start recording. Finally, the last drummer on their list, former Uriah Heep drummer Lee Kerslake, got the gig. They also hired keyboardist Don Airey who had played with Osbourne a few years prior on the Black Sabbath album Never Say Die!. The band headed into the studio to record the band's debut album, Blizzard of Ozz. Propelled by Rhoads' inspiring neo-classical guitar work and highlighting Daisley's contemporary lyrics, the album proved an instant hit with rock fans, particularly in the USA.

They released two singles from the album: "Mr. Crowley" (inspired lyrically by occultist Aleister Crowley) and the hit "Crazy Train". The band toured extensively and then quickly wrote and recorded the follow-up Diary of a Madman. Two singles were released from Diary of a Madman; "Over the Mountain" and "Flying High Again". Two days after recording was done, Osbourne fired Kerslake and Daisley, and he hired ex-Black Oak Arkansas drummer Tommy Aldridge and ex-Quiet Riot bassist Rudy Sarzo. Diary of a Madman was released shortly thereafter and Osbourne launched another tour with this same lineup. Around this time Rhoads remarked to Osbourne, Tommy Aldridge and friend Kelly Garni that he was considering leaving rock for a few years to earn a degree in classical guitar. In the documentary Don't Blame Me, Osbourne confirmed Randy's desire to earn the degree and stated that had he lived, he didn't believe Randy would have stayed in his band. Friend and ex-Quiet Riot bassist Kelly Garni has stated in interviews that if Randy had continued to play rock, he might have gone the route of more keyboard-driven rock, which had become very popular through the 1980s. Just before his death Jackson Guitars made Randy a signature model, the Jackson Randy Rhoads. Randy only received two - one in black and one in white - but died before they went into full production. The pieces of the third and final prototype were put away by Jackson Guitars after their heard of Rhoads's untimely death, but were later constructed and used as a headlining piece by the company at several conventions. A Jackson Guitars employee, not knowing the guitar's value, sold it to a passing customer, who later traded it in to a local guitar shop. It eventually ended up in the collection of Rhoads fan Sean Clegg.

Death

File:RhoadsTomb.jpg
Tomb of Randy Rhoads

On March 19, 1982, the band was headed to a festival in Orlando, Florida, when they stopped at the owner of the bus company's house, Jerry Calhoun, in Leesburg, Florida after driving much of the night. The driver, Andrew Aycock, took Rhoads and hairdresser Rachel Youngblood on a flight in a Beechcraft F35 he had taken without permission. Apparently, during the flight, an attempt was made to "buzz" the tour bus where the other band members were sleeping. They succeeded three times but the fourth time it went horribly wrong. The right wing clipped the right side of the tour bus by accident and crashed into Jerry Calhoun's nearby mansion completely destroying the front. Nobody in the mansion was hurt. Rhoads, age 25, was killed instantly, as were Aycock, 36, and Youngblood, 58. It was found later that Aycock had some amount of cocaine in his system; Rhoads's toxicology test revealed no illicit drugs.

Randy's funeral was held at the First Lutheran Church in Burbank, CA, where he attended as a child. He was interred at Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernardino, California (where his grandparents are also buried). At the time, Randy's mother was living in Burbank. The Rhoads family and many fans gather there on the anniversary of his death as well as his birthday to pay tribute and celebrate his life.

Influence

Despite his youth and relatively limited recorded work, Rhoads has influenced many notable guitar players including: Zakk Wylde, Dimebag Darrell, Kerry King, John Petrucci, Jake E. Lee, James Murphy, Troy Stetina, Dweezil Zappa, Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Hide, Kirk Hammett,Michael Romeo and Alexi Laiho.[citation needed]

Posthumous achievements

In 1987, five years after Rhoads' death, Osbourne released Tribute, the only official album featuring Osbourne and Rhoads playing together in concert. Most of the album is a live performance from Cleveland, Ohio, Recorded on May 11, 1981. Also used in the recording was Rhoads' guitar solo from a show in Montreal, Canada, recorded on July 28, 1981. That whole show had been broadcast on WMMS-FM, and the King Biscuit Flower Hour, from which it became an extremely popular and fast selling bootleg. The songs "Goodbye to Romance" and "No Bone Movies" from the Tribute album were recorded on the UK Blizzard of Ozz tour, on the same date as the Mr. Crowley EP and they feature both Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake on bass and drums.

Randy was inducted into the Guitar Center Rock Walk (on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, CA), on March 18 2004. Guests included Delores Rhoads, Kelle Rhoads, Rudy Sarzo, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, Zakk Wylde and Yngwie Malmsteen. In a 2006 Guitar World article, it was mentioned that Rhoads' last name was mistakenly spelled "Rhodes" on his plaque, and by the time it was discovered, there was not enough time to correct the mistake.

Career with Quiet Riot

1975: Rhoads forms Quiet Riot.
1977: The band signs a contract to Sony Records.
1978: The band releases its first album. Released only in Japan. Kelly Garni is replaced by Rudy Sarzo. Rudy does not appear on Quiet Riot 2, as it has already been recorded.
1979: The band releases its second album, released only in Japan. Randy quits Quiet Riot and begins working with Ozzy Osbourne.

Discography with Quiet Riot

Career with Ozzy Osbourne

1980: Ozzy, Randy and co. Record "Blizzard of Ozz" in April. They record "Diary of a Madman" in October or November of this same year. "Blizzard of Ozz" is released late in the year.
1981: "Diary of a Madman" is released in October, which features Bob Daisley on Bass and Lee Kerslake on Drums, even though the sleeve would indicate otherwise. The Diary tour starts on December 30, in San Francisco, CA., at the Cowpalace. On this same night Randy is awarded the Guitar Player of the Year Award.
1982: On March 19, Rhoads dies in a plane crash in Leesburg, Florida.
1987: Ozzy Osbourne releases Tribute to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Rhoads's death.

Career with Quiet Riot

1977: Quiet Riot I is released on Sony CBS in Japan.
1978: Quiet Riot II is released on Sony CBS in Japan.
1983: The band releases Metal Health with a new guitarist, Carlos Cavazo. The song "Thunderbird" is dedicated to Rhoads' memory, yet was written for him after he left Quiet Riot to Join Ozzy.

The live recordings on Tribute were originally intended to be released as Ozzy's first live album, Speak of the Devil (Talk of the Devil in the UK), but when Rhoads died, Osbourne shelved the tapes. Instead, Ozzy made a live recording of songs from the Ozzy-era Black Sabbath catalogue, playing with his usual live ensemble (Rudy Sarzo on bass guitar and Tommy Aldridge on drums) and guitarist Brad Gillis of Night Ranger substituting for Rhoads. The album was intended as a riposte to the then current lineup of Black Sabbath releasing their own live album Live Evil. The intended name of the live album, however, did not change, and consequently Speak of the Devil is sometimes erroneously ascribed to Rhoads's discography.

Discography with Ozzy Osbourne

Singles

Albums

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