Randy Rhoads

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Biography

Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an United States|American Heavy metal music|heavy metal guitarist who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot . A devoted student of classical guitar , Rhoads often combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. While on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, he would seek out classical guitar tutors for lessons. Despite his relatively short career, Rhoads is a major influence on neo-classical metal players that emerged in the 1980s. He is cited as an influence by many contemporary guitarists of all styles. He is included in several 'Greatest Guitarist' lists. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5937559/the_100_greatest_guitarists_of_all_time/

Quiet Riot

At the age of 14 Rhoads formed a cover band called Violet Fox (after his mother's middle name, Violet), with his older brother Kelle on drums. Violet Fox staged several performances in the "Grand Salon" at Musonia, Delores Rhoads' music school. Among their setlist was " Mississippi Queen " by Mountain (band)|Mountain , as well as songs from The Rolling Stones , Alice Cooper , and David Bowie . After the dissolution of Violet Fox, Rhoads taught his best friend Kelly Garni how to play bass guitar|bass , and together they formed a band called The Whore (rehearsing during the day at Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco , a 1970s Hollywood nightspot), spending several months playing at backyard parties around Los Angeles. Together the pair went on to form Quiet Riot when Rhoads was 16. Kevin DuBrow auditioned for vocalist in Rhoads' kitchen after he convinced Rhoads and Garni to give him a chance. The drummer, Drew Forsyth (musician)|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 Starwood Club|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 Japanese label Sony Music Entertainment Japan|CBS/Sony Records and Quiet Riot (1977 album)|Quiet Riot and Quiet Riot II were released in Japan .

Career with Ozzy Osbourne

In 1979, ex- Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne was forming a new band. During an interview with Raw Power Magazine editors Robert Olshever, Murray Schwartz and Scott Stephens (future singer of Liquid Blue ), Ozzy mentioned he was looking for a new guitar player. Randy's name was suggested during the interview and the next day Robert asked friend and future Slaughter (band)|Slaughter bassist Dana Strum to try to reach Randy to see if he was interested. Rhoads got the call for the audition just before his final show with Quiet Riot. He walked in with his Les Paul guitar and a practice guitar amplifier|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, and then departed for the United Kingdom|UK to write and record with Osbourne in November 1979.

The band, then known as The Blizzard of Ozz headed into the studio to record the band's debut album, which would also be called Blizzard of Ozz . Rhoads' guitar playing had changed due to the level of freedom allowed by Ozzy and Bob Daisley and he was encouraged to play what he wanted. His work with Quiet Riot has been criticized as being "dull" and did not rely on classical scales or arrangements.All Music Retrieved on July 18, 2008. Propelled by Rhoads' neo-classical guitar work, the album proved an instant hit with rock fans, particularly in the USA. They released two singles from the album: " Mr Crowley " and the hit " Crazy Train ". The British tour of 1980-81 for Blizzard of Ozz was with Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake . After the UK tour the band wrote another LP, but before the US Blizzard tour both Lee Kerslake and Bob Daisley were fired by Sharon Osbourne|Sharon Arden , Ozzy's future wife. For the US Blizzard tour, Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo were hired. Diary of a Madman (album)|Diary of a Madman was released soon after Blizzard of Ozz in October 1981, and since Kerslake and Daisley were already out of the band, Aldridge and Sarzo's photos appear on the album sleeve. Disputes over royalties performance, and other intellectual property rights became a source of future court battles. "You Said it All" and "You Looking At Me, Looking At You" became rare collector's items, only released on the B-Sides of singles. A live album, Tribute (Ozzy Osbourne album)|Tribute , mainly drawn from a performance in Cleveland, Ohio, was released in 1987 and included live versions of "Goodbye To Romance" and "No Bone Movies", recorded in the UK with Daisley and Kerslake in 1980.

Around this time, Rhoads remarked to Osbourne, fellow Ozz bandmates Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo, and friend Kelly Garni that he was considering leaving rock for a few years to earn a degree in classical guitar at UCLA. In the documentary ''Don't Blame Me'', Osbourne confirmed Randy's desire to earn the degree and stated that had he lived, he did not 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.

It was at this time that Rhoads was beginning to receive recognition for his playing. Just before his death Jackson Guitars created a signature model, the Jackson Randy Rhoads (though Randy had originally called his white pinstriped V the Concorde). Randy received one prototype — a black offset V hardtail which is the base for today's RR line of Jackson guitars — but died before the guitar went into production. Rhoads also received the Best New Talent award from Guitar Player magazine.

Death

Randy Rhoads' last show was played on Thursday, March 18, 1982 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee .
The next day, the band was headed to a festival in Orlando, Florida . After driving much of the night, they stopped on the property belonging to Jerry Calhoun, owner of "Florida Coach", in Leesburg, Florida . On it, there was a small airstrip lined with small helicopters and planes, and two houses. One belonged to the tour bus driver, Andrew Aycock, and the other was owned by Calhoun. Aycock - a licensed pilot - talked the band's keyboardist, Don Airey , into taking a test flight with him in a '55 Beechcraft Bonanza . By some accounts the manager, Jake Duncan, was also on this first flight. The joyride ended, and the plane landed safely. Then Aycock took Rhoads and hairdresser/seamstress Rachel Youngblood on another flight. Rhoads was persuaded to go on the second flight, despite his Pteromerhanophobia|fear of flying . Rhoads apparently agreed to go for two reasons: the seamstress had a heart condition so Aycock agreed to do nothing risky; also, Rhoads wanted to take an aerial photo as one of his hobbies was photography. During the second flight, attempts were made to "buzz" the tour bus where the other band members were sleeping.National Transportation Safety Board Retrieved on July 18, 2008. They succeeded twice, but the third attempt was botched. The left wing clipped the back side of the tour bus, tore the fiberglass roof then sent the plane spiraling. The plane severed the top of a pine tree and crashed into the garage of a nearby mansion, bursting into flames. Rhoads was killed instantly, as were Aycock (36) and Youngblood (58). All three bodies were burned beyond recognition, and were identified by dental records and Rhoads' jewelry. It was later revealed in an autopsy that Aycock's system showed traces of cocaine at the time; Rhoads' toxicology test revealed only nicotine. The National Transportation Safety Board|NTSB investigation also determined that Aycock's medical certificate had expired and that his biennial flight review, required for all pilots, was overdue.National Transportation Safety Board , no longer available as a public document from the National Transportation Safety Board . Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

In Ozzy Osbourne's autobiography titled " I Am Ozzy ", he writes that the night of Rhoads' death, he told his wife, Sharon: "I don't think I want to be a rock 'n' roller anymore".

Rhoads' funeral was held at the First Lutheran Church in Burbank, California . He is interred at Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernardino, California , where his grandparents are also buried.

Equipment

Rhoads used a relatively simple setup, with few guitars and a limited set of effects and amplifiers. He preferred GHS .011 gauge strings.

Guitars

Alpine White 1974 Gibson Les Paul Custom

Custom polka dot Karl Sandoval-V model

White Jackson "Concorde"

Black Jackson "Rhoads" w/ fixed bridge

Harmony Rocket

Sunburst Gibson Firebird

Navy Gibson Special

Ebony Gibson SG

1957 Gibson Les Paul "Black Beauty"

Effects

Dunlop Crybaby Wah

Roland RE-201 'Space Echo'

Korg echo

MXR :

*Distortion +

*EQ

*Flanger

*Chorus

Amplifiers

Marshall Amplification|Marshall Three 100W 1959SLP heads in white - two with a gain modification added by Marshall, one without.

Marshall Model 1960A cabs in white, all loaded with Altec 417-8H speakers (open back)

Peavey Electronics|Peavey Standard head (in his Quiet Riot days)

For Blizzard Of Ozz, Randy used the 1959SLP without the modification, and used his MXR Distortion+ for the extra gain.

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. The songs "Goodbye to Romance" and "No Bone Movies" from the Tribute album were recorded on the UK Blizzard of Ozz tour at Southampton, the same date as the Mr. Crowley EP.

Randy was inducted into the Guitar Center Guitar Center#Hollywood's RockWalk|Rock Walk on March 18, 2004. 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.Blabbermouth Retrieved on July 18, 2008 It has since been fixed.

As a tribute to Rhoads, Marshall Amplification released the 1959RR at NAMM Show|NAMM 2008. The amp is a limited-edition all-white Marshall Super Lead 100 watt head modeled after Randy's own Super Lead amp. Marshall engineers looked extensively at Rhoads' actual amplifier and made the 1959RR to those exact specifications, right down to the special high-gain modification Randy specifically requested when he visited the Marshall factory in 1980.Premier Guitar Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

As another tribute to Randy, Jackson Guitars released an exact replica of Randy's original white "shortwing" V. Randy's original guitar was handled, photographed, and measured extensively by Jackson's luthiers to produce the most precise replica possible. The guitar also comes with black gaffer's tape covering the top wing and the back of the guitar, just like Randy's. Only 60 of the guitars were manufactured, each with the symbolic price tag of $12,619.56 which is Rhoads' birthday.Blabbermouth Retrieved on January 27, 2010.

In 2010, Gibson Guitar Corporation|Gibson Guitars announced a new custom shop signature guitar modeled after Rhoads' 1974 Les Paul Custom. http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/News/randy-rhoads-0823/

In April 2011, author Joel McIver announced the publication of the first fully comprehensive Rhoads biography, Crazy Train: The High Life And Tragic Death Of Randy Rhoads, with a foreword written by Zakk Wylde and an afterword contributed by Yngwie Malmsteen .

May 31, 2011 marks the 30 year anniversary and re-master / release of Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman . Both albums have been remastered and restored to their original state with Bob Daisley's bass and Lee Kerslake's drums intact. Blizzard has 3 bonus tracks - "You, Looking At Me, Looking At You", "Goodbye To Romance" (2010 Vocal & Guitar Mix), and "RR" (Randy Rhoads in studio guitar solo). Diary originally was to include long fade out versions of "You Can't Kill Rock And Roll", "Tonight", and "Diary Of A Madman" (2010 Re-mix version), but have ultimately not been included in the re-issue. The Legacy version of Diary Of A Madman includes a second CD called Ozzy Live which includes the unreleased Blizzard Of Ozz tour '81 show from Montreal, Canada. Recorded in July 1981 and originally broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour|King Biscuit Flower Hour radio show . The live show features the same line up as the tribute album - Rudy Sarzo on bass, Tommy Aldridge on drums and Lindsey Bridgewater on Keyboard instrument|keyboards . Also included exclusively in the special box set are the 180& nbsp;gram vinyl versions of the original albums, an expansive 100 page coffee table book and the DVD - Thirty Years After The Blizzard , which includes lots of unreleased Randy Rhoads footage.

Awards and recognition

Voted "Best New Talent" by the readers of Guitar Player magazine in December 1981

Voted "Best Heavy Metal Guitarist" by the readers of UK-based Sounds magazine in December 1981

Placed 85th on Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists.Rolling Stone Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

Placed 4th on Guitar World Magazine's 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists.Blabbermouth Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

"Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" placed 9th and 28th respectively on Guitar World's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos readers poll.About.com: Guitar Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

Named one of the fastest guitar players in Guitar World's 50 Fastest Guitarists list.deviantART Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

"Crazy Train" placed 51 in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time" list.Rolling Stone Retrieved on July 18, 2008.

In 2008 - 2010 applications for a Posthumous Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame were submitted in the name of Randy Rhoads. Randy Rhoads' Posthumous Star has not yet been approved and the HWOF Star application will be resubmitted in 2011. If approved by the Hollywood Walk Of Fame Committee in June 2011, Randy Rhoads' Posthumous Star would be placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the year 2012. http://www.bravewords.com/news/147962

Influence

Despite his youth and relatively limited recorded work, Rhoads has been on the covers of many guitar magazines and has influenced many notable guitar players, including Yngwie Malmsteen, Dimebag Darrell , Frank Hannon , Doug Aldrich , Jake E. Lee , Zakk Wylde, David Philastre, Kirk Hammett , Michael Romeo , John Petrucci , Tom Morello , Joe Holmes , Takara (band)|Neal Grusky (Takara) , Michael Angelo Batio , Nik Moeller, Brad Gillis , George Lynch (musician)|George Lynch ,Phil Brodie Band Retrieved on July 18, 2008. Alexi Laiho ,FourteenG Retrieved on July 18, 2008. Slipknot (band)#Band members|Mick Thomson , Paul Gilbert ,Metal-Rules Retrieved on July 18, 2008. Buckethead MTV Retrieved on July 18, 2008. and Tim Hulak.

Discography

With Quiet Riot

Quiet Riot (1977)

Quiet Riot II (1978)

The Randy Rhoads Years (1993)

With Ozzy Osbourne

Blizzard of Ozz (1980)

Mr Crowley Live EP (1980)

Diary of a Madman (1981)

Tribute (1987)

Ozzy Live (Disc 2 of Diary Of A Madman Legacy Edition) (2011)

Copyright Citations

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Randy Rhoads Photo by: www.sleazeroxx.com


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