Sharon Osbourne cried at Ozzy Osbourne’s public memorial.
After Ozzy Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979, the band replaced him with vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Around the same time, drummer Bill Ward left the band, with Vinny Appice being hired in his place. By 1982, Ronnie and Appice left Sabbath to start the band Dio – with them returning again briefly in the early ‘90s.
Since then, there have been many claims of bad blood between Osbourne and Dio. Now, Appice is attempting to clear up the speculation that the two legendary singers disliked each other.
According to Appice, the Prince of Darkness actually “really liked” Ronnie, and was only temporarily upset about being replaced by him in Sabbath.
“Ozzy would always tell me how he loved Ronnie. Everybody created this thing that they hate each other, but Ozzy used to talk about him all the time,” the drummer said during a new appearance on “Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk.”
He continued: “He used to talk about my brother [Carmine], saying, ‘You know, I really like your brother’. He would tell me the same things the next day, too, [and] tell me about Ronnie.
“He really liked Ronnie… and there are some pictures on the internet where they’re hanging out, actually. You know, things get blown up on the internet. You don’t know the truth – really – of what’s going on.”
During an interview with SiriusXM in 2022, Osbourne opened up about his thoughts on Dio joining Black Sabbath. While he admits he was initially upset, he eventually got over it and thinks Ronnie “did a good job” fronting the band.
“At the time, I was f*cking sad because they were the only thing that ever happened to me,” he said, adding that he was glad his Sabbath bandmates went for “somebody completely different” instead of an “Ozzy sound-alike.”
Osbourne did say, however, that he didn’t listen to any of Sabbath’s albums with Dio: “It’s like my ex-wife. [When] you leave a band like that, it’s just like getting divorced. You don’t go, ‘How’s your new bloke? Is he better than me?’”
He then added: “Looking back, [hiring Dio] was the best thing that ever happened,” as it gave the band the opportunity to have a “good start again.”
