Randall William Rhoads was born on December 6, 1956, in Santa Monica, California. The youngest of 3 children, Randy grew up in a musical family. His mother was a music teacher, and had him start his first guitar lesson when he was 6 years old. His first guitar was a Gibson acoustic that had belonged to his grandfather. When he got a bit older, he became interested in rock guitar music, and began to take lessons on an electric guitar. After taking lessons from Scott Shelley for almost a year, his teacher told his mother that he couldn't teach him any more because he had taught Randy everything he knew.
When Randy was 14, he started his own band called Violet Fox. The band played together for about 5 months, before he left to play in other bands. In 1976, he formed Quiet Riot. They quickly became a very popular band. They played many sold out shows in smaller venues and clubs. It wasn't long before they found themselves signed with CBS/Sony Records. They released 2 albums in Japan, and received rave reviews there. The press hailed them as "the next big thing" However, the albums were never released in the US.
Late in 1979, Rhoads' friend Dana Strum asked him to audition for former Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne, as he was looking to start up a new band. Rhoads did the favor for his friend, thinking it wouldn't amount to much. He was happy with his band. As it turned out, he got the job, and at the age of 22, he became Ozzy's lead guitarist.
In November of 1979, Rhoads left for England, where he and Ozzy began writing music for the album Blizzard of Ozz. They tried out their songs in local pubs. In March of 1980, they began to record. They worked in the studio for almost a month.
In May of 1980, Rhoads returned to California and played one last time with Quiet Riot at the Starwood Club in Hollywood.
Rhoads returned to England again for the Ozzy Osbourne Band's first official show. The fans broke the box office record at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland, selling out to a crowd of 4000. Blizzard of Ozz hit the UK charts at number 7. The band toured around the UK for 3 months.
In 1981, Rhoads found himself back in the studio to record Diary of a Madman. With an American tour pending, the recording became rushed, and the band wasn't entirely comfortable with it.
The band left for their tour in support of Blizzard of Ozz. the tour was a huge success, bringing the album to gold status within 100 days. In some smaller cities, though, the band had trouble with poor ticket sales. In Providence, Rhode Island, the promoter said that he didn't have enough money to pay them or Def Leppard. (the opening band)
In November of 1981, The band went back to Europe to tour for their new release, Diary of a Madman. Unfortunately, after only 3 shows, the tour was cancelled after Ozzy collapsed from mental and physical exhaustion.
The following month, the band started a tour again, this time in the US. The tour was a huge success, selling out huge venues all over the US. Back stage on the band's opening night in San Francisco, Rhoads was awarded Guitar Player Magazine's Best New Talent Award. The tour was particularly exhausting for the band. Their concerts were boycotted in many cities, and others were attended by the S.P.C.A because of official claims of animal abuse.
It was during this time that Randy started to take more of an interest in Classical guitar. He had a tutor in almost every city he toured. It was becoming evident that he wanted to quit rock and roll, and go back to school to get his masters in classical guitar. He was also seriously considering taking up the offers he had received to do some studio session work.
The Ozzy Osbourne Band played what would be their last show with Randy Rhoads on March 18, 1982. The band was headed for Orlando, Florida for the "Rock Super Bowl XIV" to be performed with the band Foreigner. On the way, they decided to stop at the home of Jerry Calhoun. He leased tour buses, and they needed some spare parts for the bus. The driver, Andrew Aycock, saw a plane in the hanger on the estate, and since he had a pilot's license, decided to go for a ride. He took Randy and Rachel Youngblood in the plane with him. Unknown to anyone at the time, his pilot's license was invalid because his medical certificate had expired. It seems that during the trip, he was flying very low to the ground, at times even coming close to the tour bus. On the fourth pass, the plane's wing struck the side of the band's bus. The plane then hit a nearby tree, and crashed into the garage. The house was almost instantly engulfed in flames.
Randy Rhoads died instantly in the crash.
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