In a new interview with Guitar World, Bob Daisley recalled the day Osbourne had been fired from Black Sabbath, and how people tried to warn him about Osbourne’s reputation.
“Ozzy has just come back from L.A. and been fired from Black Sabbath,” the rocker revealed. “People warned me against working with Ozzy because he didn’t have the best reputation. He’d been getting out of it, being drunk, unprofessional, unreliable, and all the rest of it.”
“For some reason, I thought, ‘I have to do this.’ When he asked me to go up to his house and play, he said, ‘I’ve got a first-class rail ticket.’ I jumped on a train in London, went up to Stratford, and Ozzy met me at the station. I went to his place and had a guitarist and a drummer there,” he added.
In addition to believing in Osbourne from the beginning and understanding who he needed to work with, Bob Daisley played a key role in recognizing the talent and potential of Randy Rhoads.
“It was just me and Ozzy to start the band. Ozzy told me about this young guitar player in LA who was a teacher and worked at a music school. I sort of envisioned an older bloke with slippers, a cardigan, and glasses, but Ozzy said, ‘No, his name is Randy Rhoads.’ I said, ‘Okay, well, let’s get him over,’” he recalled.
The head of Osbourne’s label, Jet Records, wasn’t excited about bringing Rhoads in, thinking he was too young. However, Daisley was eager to give the guitarist a chance. After some back-and-forth with the label, Osbourne, Rhoads, and Daisley finally met at Jet Records toward the end of 1979—an encounter that would change all their careers.
A short time after Rhoads’ death, Jake E. Lee took his shoes in the band.