Randy Rhoads’ Tragic Death and History with Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads died in a horrific plane crash on March 19, 1982. The details of exactly what happened still aren’t clear to this day but there are some things we do know.

Ozzy Osbourne is Fired from Black Sabbath and Finds Success in Solo Career

Ozzy Osbourne has had to reinvent himself numerous times in his career. He first came onto people’s radar as the frontman for metal pioneer Black Sabbath, but along with success came addictions and in-fighting which ultimately led to his firing in 1979.

Ozzy’s dismissal from Back Sabbath led him to reinvent himself as a solo artist, something which he had a tremendous amount of success with. That success wouldn’t have happened had Ozzy not met guitarist Randy Rhoads. Ozzy spoke about Randy to A&E, “I knew instinctively that he was something extra special. He was like a gift from God. Randy and I were like a team.”

“Randy was a breath of fresh air, funny, ambitious, just a great guy.” – Sharon Osbourne

Ozzy’s wife and manager Sharon Osbourne recalled how Randy gave the Prince of Darkness a much-needed shot in the arm when it came to his creativity, “As soon as he found Randy, it was like night and day. He was alive again. Randy was a breath of fresh air, funny, ambitious, just a great guy.”

Randy Rhoads’ story began on December 6, 1956, in Burbank, California. Randy was surrounded by musical talent as his mother and father were both music teachers. Rhodes was taught by an instructor at the school until Rhoads’ knowledge of guitar had surpassed his own.

Randy Rhoads and Kevin Garni Form Quiet Riot

By the age of 16, Randy started a band with friend, Kevin Garni. They recruited singer Kevin Dubrow and drummer Drew Forsyth and called themselves Little Women before changing their name to Quiet Riot.

Soon Quiet Riot became one of the hottest bands on the LA club scene, inking a deal with CBS Records. Despite the fact that the band was one of the more popular groups in LA at the time, their label opted to release their first two records in Japan only.

According to Randy Rhoads, CBS Records thought Van Halen already was the “LA Band” and they didn’t think there should be another LA band releasing albums in the states. Adding to their problems was the deteriorating relationship between the members of Quiet Riot which resulted in drunken fistfights and death threats.

Randy Rhoads Leaves Quiet Riot

Frustrated, Rhoads left the band to pursue other opportunities in 1979. Ozzy Osbourne was out of Black Sabbath and attempting to form a band to support his solo career.

An acquaintance of Randy Rhoads from the LA club scene, Dana Strum, got in touch with Rhoads insisting he audition for Ozzy. Randy’s audition took place at a studio in Los Angeles. Using a Gibson Les Paul and a practice amp, the guitarist entered the room and started to warm up.

Ozzy was heavily intoxicated that day and according to Rhoads, he never met the Prince of Darkness during the audition. it was his friend Strum who came out of the control room to tell the guitarist he got the job.

Randy remembered, looking back at his audition, “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 play yet’.”

Randy Rhoads Voted as “Best Heavy Metal Guitarist”

It wouldn’t take long before Randy Rhoads left his mark on Ozzy’s career and the world of rock n’ roll, playing on the seminal records of 1980’s Blizzard of Oz and 1981’s Diary of a Madman. Readers of Guitar Player magazine in December of 1981 voted Rhoads the “Best New Talent”, while readers of Sounds magazine voted him the “Best Heavy Metal Guitarist”.

Randy Rhoads Considers Leaving the Band

Prior to leaving for the US to tour on Diary of a Madman, Sharon Osbourne fired the rhythm section. Shaken by the firing, Rhoads almost quit the band but opted to stay. Drummer Tommy Aldridge and bassist Rudy Sarzo were hired as Ozzy’s new rhythm section. According to Sarzo, Rhoads planned on quitting the band once his contract was over.

Rhoads’ desire to leave was due to his frustration with Ozzy’s alcohol dependency and out-of-control behaviour. Also straining Rhoads’ relationship with Ozzy was the fact that his management and label wanted the band to record a live album which consisted of Black Sabbath covers. Rhoads and Aldridge felt that they were accomplished musicians and a covers album was a slap in the face.

The Diary of a Madman Tour was a huge success and the band played to sold-out venues. Randy Rhoads played his last show with Ozzy on Thursday, March 18, 1982, at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. The following day the band was on their way to Orlando, Florida to play their next gig with Foreigner. Rhoads never made it to Orlando.

“You’ll kill yourself, you know? One of these days.” – Randy Rhoads

Ozzy would recall in his book I Am Ozzy, the final thing Rhoads said to him was a stern warning about his drinking. He told the frontman, “You’ll kill yourself, you know? One of these days.”

On the way to Orlando, the band stopped in Leesburg, Florida to fix a malfunctioning air conditioning unit at Jerry Calhoun’s tour bus dealership. In addition to housing Calhoun’s mansion, the sprawling property also housed a private airfield with helicopters and airplanes.

The band had a day off to rest and recuperate and they spent the night on the property. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the bus driver, Andrew Aycock also knew how to fly planes and decided to take a 1955 single-engine Beechcraft F35 plane from the nearby airfield out for a spin without Calhoun’s permission.

On the first flight, Aycock took keyboardist Don Airey and tour manager Jake Duncan. He attempted to “buzz” Ozzy’s tour bus. Aycock landed and took Randy Rhoads and makeup artist Rachel Youngblood on the second flight.

“He assured me that he was just going to take it easy, circle the property a couple of times and not pull any crazy stunts.” – Jake Duncan

Rhoads was afraid of flying and Youngblood had a heart condition. Ozzy’s tour manager revealed in the book, Off the Rails: Aboard the Crazy Train in the Blizzard of Oz, how Aycock convinced the pair to come on the plane.

“Right after we landed, Andy came up to me and told me he was going to take Rachel up for a ride and that being aware of her heart condition, he assured me that he was just going to take it easy, circle the property a couple of times and not pull any crazy stunts. So when Randy heard that, he decided to join them so he could take some aerial shots with his camera.”

During the second flight, Aycock tried to buzz the tour bus once again. He was able to successfully do it twice, but the third time ended in tragedy.

Tragedy Strikes Mid-Air

Around 10 am, after flying for five minutes, the aircraft’s wing clipped the top of the bus, spiralling out of control before hitting a tree shearing the top off and crashing into a garage of Calhoun’s mansion.

Rhoads and Youngblood were ejected from the aircraft through the windshield before the plane exploded into a fireball. All 3 passengers were killed instantly and half of Calhoun’s mansion caught fire.

While most of the band and their entourage were sleeping, keyboardist Don Airey was the only member of the band to see the crash and gave an eyewitness account of seeing a struggle in the cockpit between Rhoads and Aycock before the plane approached the bus, a mere seconds before the crash.

A Theory of Sinister Motives

There is a theory that Aycock had sinister motives on the day of the crash. Toxicology reports showed that Aycock had cocaine in his system, while Rhodes only had nicotine.

Aycock’s estranged wife had spent the previous night on the tour bus as Andrew was trying to possibly reconcile with her. Aycock’s wife was standing beside the tour bus while he was buzzing it.

Some thought that as Aycock made the final approach, he may have seen his ex-wife and tried to crash into her. Sarzo believed that given Aycock’s agitated emotional state that day, made worse by the effects of drugs and the fact that he hadn’t slept all night, it was possible he tried to take out his wife.

NTSB Investigation Reveals Disturbing History

Given the struggle that Don Airey witnessed in the cockpit, it’s possible that Randy Rhoads’ actions prevented the aircraft from directly crashing into the bus. The NTSB investigation determined that Aycock’s Aviation Medical Certificate had expired and that Aycock was the pilot in another fatal crash six years earlier in the United Arab Emirates.

Sharon Osbourne was aware of that prior crash but hadn’t informed anyone else in Ozzy’s camp about it. In the moments after the crash, Sharon admonished Ozzy’s tour manager for allowing their people into a plane with a pilot who had been awake and using drugs all night, telling him “Don’t you know that man had already killed one of Calhoun’s kids in a helicopter crash?”

Ozzy and his bandmates had little time to grieve as they had to get back on tour. Ozzy would look back at how he moved on after the death of Rhodes, telling Rolling Stone, “You never get over something like that. You’re in shock. I said to Sharon, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’ And she went, ‘If you quit now …’ It was a bad scene, man. She said, ‘We are not stopping now.’”

Within a week and a half, Ozzy and company were back out on the road with Irish guitarist Bernie Torme. The gig was temporary for Torme. He only played 7 shows before guitarist Brad Gillis came into the picture.

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