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... joined Ozzy's band in time for the North American tour. They toured across North America from May through September of 1981 playing songs from "Blizzard of Ozzy" as well as "Diary of a Madman", with a few Black Sabbath songs thrown in to close their shows. Choosing to headline their tour instead of going on a bigger tour as a support act paid off as "Blizzard of Ozzy" went gold in 100 days, though in some of the smaller cities in the United States, their shows were threatened to be cancelled due to poor ticket sales. In one such city, Providence, Rhode Island, the Ozzy Osbourne Band (along with opening act Def Leppard) was informed by the concerts promoter that (due to poor ticket sales) he did not have enough money to pay either band.
Towards the end of the United States "Blizzard of Ozzy" tour, Randy once again went to Grover Jackson to have another custom guitar made. He complained that too many people thought his white "Jackson" was a flying-V. He wanted something more distinctive. A few weeks later, Randy and Kevin Du Brow went to look at the unfinished guitar that Grover Jackson had begun work on. Once in the wood shop, Randy and Grover Jackson began drawing on this unfinished guitar for close to an hour before a final design was decided upon. There are two stories as to how the guitar was actually cut: A. ) As Grover Jackson cut the body to their design specifications, Randy waited in Grover's office, not wanting to watch it being cut.
B. ) Grover Jackson put the unfinished guitar body on a bandsaw and cut a "chunk" out of it. Randy, watching, said, "yeah, yeah. Thats it!" Ultimately they came up with a variation of his white "Jackson" only with a more defined look to the upper wing of the guitar. Randy would receive this guitar, the 2 nd Jackson ever made, just before the start of the "Diary of a Madman" tour. At the time, there were three guitars being made for Randy. He received the first one, the black custom, as they continued to finish the other two. (Unfortunately, one of the "two" guitars, that were being built for Randy at the time of his death, was accidentally sold at a NAMM show by Grover Jackson.
The "third" guitar, which Jackson stopped working on at the time of Randy's death, is currently owned by Rob Lane of Jacksoncharvelworld. com. ) Ironically, as with Quiet Riot, Randy Rhoads guitar playing would be heard on two full length albums and one e. p. while in Ozzy Osbournes band. The "Mr. Crowley" e.
p. featured live performances of three songs (including: "You said it all", previously unreleased) recorded in October of 1980 in South Hampton, England, during the United Kingdom "Blizzard of Ozzy" tour. ('You said it all' was actually recorded during the bands sound check, with the crowd noise added at the time of mixing. ) It was said that at that time the "Mr. Crowley" picture disk became the biggest selling picture disk of all time and even earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. With the release of the Ozzy Osbourne Band's second album, "Diary of a Madman", Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads (the only original member of Ozzy's band) along with Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldrige traveled to Europe in November of 1981 for a tour that would end after only three shows. The tour had to be cancelled after Ozzy collapsed from both mental and physical exhaustion. The entire band went back to the United States so that Ozzy could rest.
They would come back a little over a month later with a four month United States tour to start December 30, 1981 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco and a single (Flying High Again) that was making it's way up the charts. Traveling with a crew of approximately 25 Las Vegas and Broadway technicians, Randy Rhoads went from selling out Los Angeles area clubs with Quiet Riot to selling out the biggest arenas in the United States on one of the most elaborate stage sets with Ozzy Osbourne. When the "Diary of a Madman" tour began, their first album, "Blizzard of Ozzy", was selling at the rate of 6, 000 records each week. Backstage opening night in San Francisco, Randy was awarded with Guitar Player Magazines Best New Talent Award. (He also won best new guitarist in England's "Sounds" magazine. ) With that, the band began an exhausting yet memorable tour that seemed to be plagued with problems. Their concerts were boycotted by many cities while others were attended by local S. P.
C. A. officials due to claims of animal abuse. Meanwhile "Diary of a Madman" was well on its way to platinum status.
With all of this going on around him, Randy Rhoads interest for classical guitar was consuming him more each day. Often times Randy would have a classical guitar tutor in each city the band played. It became common knowledge that Randy wanted to quit rock and roll temporarily so that he could attend school to get his masters in classical guitar. Randy also wanted to take advantage of some of the studio session offers he was recieving.
March 18, 1982, the Ozzy Osbourne band played what would be their last show with Randy Rhoads at the Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. From Knoxville, the band was headed to Orlando, Florida for Saturdays "Rock Super Bowl XIV" with Foreigner, Bryan Adams and UFO. On the way to Orlando they were to pass by the home of bus driver Andrew C. Aycock, who lived in Leesburg, Florida, at Flying Baron Estates. Flying Baron Estates consisted of 3 houses with an aircraft hanger and a landing strip, owned by Jerry Calhoun, who along with being a country & western musician in his earlier days, leased tour buses and kept them at the Estate.
They needed some spare parts for the bus and Andrew Aycock, who had picked up his ex-wife at one of the bands shows, was going to drop her off in Florida. The bus arrived at Flying Baron Estates in Leesburg at about 8: 00 a. m. on the 19 th and parked approximately 90 yards away from the landing strip and approximately 15 yards in front of the house that would later serve as the accident site. On the bus were: Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Arden, Rudy Sarzo, Tommy Aldrige, Don Airey, Wanda Aycock, Andrew Aycock, Rachel Youngblood, Randy Rhoads and the bands tour manager. Andrew Aycock and his ex-wife, Wanda, went into Jerry Calhoun's house to make some coffee while some members of Ozzy Osbournes band slept in the bus and others got out and "stretched." Being stored inside of the aircraft hanger at Flying Baron Estates, was a red and white 1955 Beechcraft Bonanza F- 35 (registration #: N 567 LT) that belonged to Mike Part of Kissimmee, Florida.
Andrew Aycock, who had driven the groups bus all night from Knoxville and who had a pilots license, apparently took the plane without permission and took keyboardist Don Airey and the bands tour manager up in the plane for a few minutes, at times flying low to the ground. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, Andrew Aycock's medical certificate (3 rd class) had expired, thus making his pilots license not valid. Approximately 9: 00 a. m. on the morning of March 19 th, Andrew Aycock took Rachel Youngblood and Randy Rhoads up for a few minutes.
During this trip the plane began to fly low to the ground, at times below tree level, and "buzzed" the bands tour bus three times. On the fourth pass (banking to the left in a south-west direction) the planes left wing struck the left side of the bands tour bus (parked facing east) puncturing it in two places approximately half way down on the right side of the bus. The plane, with the exception of the left wing, was thrown over the bus, hit a nearby pine tree, severing it approximately 10 feet up from the bottom, before it crashed into the garage on the west side of the home owned by Jerry Calhoun. The plane was an estimated 10 feet off the ground traveling at approximately 120 - 150 knots during impact. The house was almost immediately engulfed in flames and destroyed by the crash and ensuing fire, as was the garage and the two vehicles inside, an Oldsmobile and a Ford Granada. Jesse Herndon, who was inside the house during the impact, escaped with no injuries.
The largest piece of the plane that was left was a wing section about 6 to 7 feet long. The very wing that caught the side of the tour bus, was deposited just to the north of the bus. The severed pine tree stood between the bus and the house. Ozzy Osbourne, Tommy Aldrige, Rudy Sarzo and Sharon Arden, who were all asleep on the bus, were awoken by the planes impact and (at first) thought they had been involved in a traffic accident. Wanda Aycock had returned to the bus while keyboardist Don Airey stood outside and witnesses the accident, as did Marble Morrison, who was riding her horse within sight of the estate.
Two men, at the west end of the runway, witnessed the plane "buzzing" the area when the plane suddenly "went out of sight" as it crashed. Once outside of the bus the band members learned of the catastrophic event that had just taken place. The bus was moved approximately 300 feet to the east of the house that was engulfed in flames. The band checked into the Hill Inn in Leesburg where they mourned the death of Randy and Rachel and would wait for family members to arrive. While Orlando's "Rock Super Bowl XIV", scheduled for later that day, was not canceled, the Ozzy Osbourne band would not play and the promoters offered refunds to all ticket holders.
Randy Rhoads was put to rest in San Bernardino, California. Randy Rhoads guitar playing, however, could not be silenced as "Tribute" was released in 1987. "Tribute", recorded live, much of it in Cleveland, OH on May 11, 1981 and Randy's solo in Montreal in July of 1981, continued to earn him recognition as a guitar virtuoso. Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albums featuring Randy Rhoads have sold over 6 million copies combined.
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