Former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne emerged from a difficult period in late 1983 with the release of his third solo album, 'Bark At The Moon'. Following the death of guitarist Randy Rhoads the previous year in a plane crash, the vocalist had lost his main creative partner, who had played on the previous two albums and co-written most of the material. Ozzy fulfilled touring commitments that year with stand-in guitarists including former Gillan axeman Bernie Torme, then Brad Gillis who would go on to success with his band Night Ranger.
For 1983, he recruited young hotshot guitar hero Jake E. Lee; Ozzy had also restored bassist Bob Daisley to his band (after a brief and disastrous period with Don Costa, reportedly too wild even for Ozzy!) and had drafted in veteran drummer Carmine Appice (older brother of Vinnie, by then a member of Dio). Previous bass player Rudy Sarzo had returned to former band Quiet Riot by this stage, and although Tommy Aldridge played drums on the album, he was replaced - briefly - by veteran Carmine Appice in the touring band, before a hasty reshuffle saw Aldridge return to the drum stool.
The album was recorded at Ridge Farm Studios in the UK, and was released on 15th November 1983 on Epic Records. The title track was the opener, a pacy hard rocker which introduced Lee with a blistering array of riffs and flashy soloing. The video for the song featured Ozzy as a sort of Dr Jekyll character who transforms into a werewolf upon taking a potion of his own creation. The track proved to be a success, just missing the UK top 20 and the album also reached number 24 on the UK albums chart. Lee, an American guitarist of Japanese and Welsh ancestry, was praised for his performance and also for successfully stepping into the huge void left by Rhoads. A UK tour took place in late 1983 (sadly for this blogger, a planned show at Liverpool Royal Court was pulled) before Ozzy took to the road in the States, supported by Mötley Crüe .
A further single ('So Tired') also reached the UK charts in 1984, and Ozzy was slated to perform on the bill at the 1984 Monsters of Rock festival at Donington, performing a well-received set on a strong bill also featuring AC/DC, Van Halen, Gary Moore, Y&T and opened by Mötley Crüe.
Some years later, suspicions that the writing credits were not accurate were confirmed when bassist Bob Daisley revealed in his autobiography that he had been paid a lump sum to write the material. Jake E Lee had co-written the songs with Daisley but was forced to sign away all rights by manager Sharon Osbourne, on threat of being replaced in the touring band. The writing credits on record (credited solely to Osbourne), defied all credibility since he was not known for his musical prowess, and at that time was in the firm grip of substance addictions. Osbourne himself belatedly acknowledged Lee's input into the writing (in the sleevenotes to compilation album 'The Ozzman Cometh', admitting that Lee 'co-wrote' the title track. To the best of my knowledge however, no recompense has ever been made to Lee for his writing.
By 1986, Lee was not prepared to write anything for Ozzy without a contract in place, and secured a deal to write the material for next album 'The Ultimate Sin'. Once again teaming up with Daisley, the two wrote the bulk of the material although when that album was released, it initially credited the writing to 'Osbourne/Lee'. Daisley had to push to get his credit acknowledged, which was corrected on later pressings. However lead-off single 'Shot In The Dark' was credited to newly-recruited bassist Phil Soussan; that song has itself become the subject of controversy as an early version from Soussan's previous band Wildlife later emerged, suggesting it was actually co-written with then Wildlife colleagues Steve and Chris Overland (later of the AOR band FM). Although 'The Ultimate Sin' was a success at the time, the album has since been deleted and was left out of subsequent reissues of the Ozzy catalogue.
Lee eventually quit Ozzy's band in 1987, or was fired depending on whom you believe, and formed Badlands who released two albums in the late 1980s to acclaim. He was not heard from for many years, before finally resurfacing in 2013 with a new band, Red Dragon Cartel.
Daisley issued a book ('For Fact's Sake') in 2012 which chronicled his entire career in music, but it was the period spent with Ozzy which grabbed the attention of many fans as the bassist sought to put the record straight on who did what in the early days of Ozzy's post-Sabbath career, including writing and recording. He also pointed out that Ozzy's first 'solo' album was actually recorded under the band name Blizzard of Ozz, proving that with the use of publicity photos from the time. This caused controversy as he was at this time pushing for royalties that he and original drummer Lee Kerslake felt they were due, after their parts were re-recorded for a reissue of the first two albums.
Ozzy would go on to further success, recruiting then unknown guitarist Zakk Wylde for later albums, a collaboration which lasted for many years and launched Wylde into his own solo career. He then reunited with Black Sabbath for on/off periods, and was last heard of working with guitarist Gus G of the band Firewind.
2023 Update: Ozzy Osbourne, after a prolonged period of ill-health forcing a planned tour with Judas Priest to be rescheduled several times and ultimately being cancelled altogether, announced his retirement from live performances in February 2023. He has since hinted at the possibility of one-off shows but will no longer tour.
From 1983, the video for 'Bark At The Moon':
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