Following his dismissal from Black Sabbath in the late 1970s, Ozzy Osbourne’s solo career was quickly taking off with bandmates Randy Rhoads on guitar, Bob Daisley on bass, and Lee Kerslake on drums. Then, seemingly just as quickly as this solo endeavor formed, a tragic plane crash irreparably fractured the band and turned Osbourne’s world upside down for the second time in three short years.
Randy Sarzo, the bassist who replaced Daisley just before the Diary of a Madman promotional run, recalled the heartbreaking moment he caught Osbourne’s reaction to his guitarist’s death.
“Harmless” Fun Turned Deadly In An Instant
Like far too many artists who came before him, Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist, Randy Rhoads, met a tragic end in a plane crash. On March 19, 1982, Osbourne, Rhoads, and the rest of the crew pulled into the Flying Baron Estates in Leesburg, Florida, where they waited for a technician to fix a faulty A/C unit. Some band members, like Osbourne and his wife, slept on the tour bus. Others, like bus driver Andrew Aycock, keyboardist Don Airey, tour manager Jake Duncan, makeup artist Rachel Youngblood, and guitarist Randy Rhoads, stayed up partying.
Aycock stole one of the small planes on the estate and offered to take crew members for short rides around the property. The first flight went off without a hitch, even when Aycock flew closely to the tour bus to try to shake the rest of the crew awake. On the second flight, Airey and Duncan traded places with Youngblood and Rhoads. When Aycock tried to fly by the tour bus again, he clipped one of the plane’s wings on the roof of the vehicle, causing him to lose control of the aircraft.
The plane crashed, sending Rhoads and Youngblood through the windshield. The resulting fire from the crash charred the bodies so badly that investigators had to identify them through dental records and personal effects. Aycock also died in the horrific wreck. The rest of the crew awoke to the grim scene when they felt the initial impact with the plane and heard the crash, and they immediately tried to locate a phone to call first responders.
Ozzy Osbourne After Randy Rhoads’ Tragic Death
Ozzy Osbourne was just finding his footing as a solo artist at the time of this fatal crash in early 1982. Although there is certainly no comparison between Osbourne’s dismissal from Black Sabbath and Randy Rhoads’ grisly fate, it’s worth noting that this tragedy was the second time Osbourne’s world had completely shattered. Randy Sarzo, who joined the band for their Diary of a Madman tour, recalled walking into a nearby church and seeing a man kneeling at the altar, praying and loudly crying.
“As I closed my eyes and wept, I could hear him sobbing uncontrollably,” Sarzo recalled in his book Off the Rails. “Even in my darkest hour, I couldn’t help but feel compassion towards someone who seemed to be in more agony than myself. Suddenly, he let out a bone-chilling moan that reverberated throughout the church. ‘Why? Why?!’ He cried. I raised my head and looked over at him. It was Ozzy.”
Although Osbourne would eventually continue his solo career, the chemistry he had with Rhoads was undeniable. In a 1990 interview with Guitar World, Osbourne described how working with Rhoads differed from Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi.
“Tony Iommi was a bit of a tyrant,” Osbourne said. “His attitude was that I was the singer, I was allocated a space, and if I couldn’t come up with anything, then I was screwed. Whereas Randy would work with me. Randy had patience because he was a guitar teacher. He was always supportive and would say things like, ‘Try bending a note here’ or ‘Try this key.’”
“Randy was very instrumental in bringing me out of me,” he said. “The first two Ozzy albums are by far the greatest things I’ve ever done. He was too good to last.”
Photo by Watal Asanuma/Shinko Music/Getty Images
