The Starz guitarist Richie Ranno during a recent interview with Ryan Roxie, talked about how he got contacted by Ozzy’s representatives sometime after finding out about the tragic news of Randy Rhoads’ death. The Prince of Darkness was looking for a new guitar player, and according to Ranno, he was considered for the role due to being a major inspiration to Randy Rhoads.
Richie Ranno reveals why he missed the role
However, Ranno would miss out on the role, and was eventually told that him not having blond hair at the time was the reason why:
“So then… a good two weeks later, I think [it was] before they did do auditions, and I got a call. They knew that he was a big fan of stars and myself and thought it’d be maybe a good fit. So they flew three people out there: Rudy Sarzo’s brother, Robert, Bernie Tormé, and myself, and I was the first person to play with them.
“And when they were setting up the instruments and getting ready to play, they were all like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this is the first time we’re getting on our instruments,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, these poor guys, how they must feel,’ so I just jammed [with them]. We didn’t play any songs for a while. And then we played some Ozzy songs…”
The guitarist went on to explain that he never got the gig and said that an acquaintance would later tell him it was because of his hair color:
“I really thought I was gonna get the gig. I thought I played really well, we all got along really well… But anyway, Ozzy didn’t show for the auditions. They just sent me home after about three days and said, ‘Okay, we picked somebody’…
“So, later, my buddy… he was the lighting director for Ozzy, he called me and said, ‘Listen, the reason you didn’t get it is because Ozzy said, ‘Who had blond hair, any of them?’ And my hair was pretty dark at the time. And Bernie had blond hair, and [the friend] said ‘They took the blond-haired guy.'”
