Jake E. Lee Recalls the Details of His Firing
Jake E. Lee recalled the details of his firing from Ozzy’s band, explainig how a dispute about “working at night” paved the way for it to happen.
The guitarist wrote many great songs while working for the Prince of Darkness. Despite being mostly in charge of songwriting, he was fired unceremoniously, and seemingly out of nowhere, in 1987. He was never given a full explanation as to why it happened.
However, Lee has a fairly clear idea about who was responsible. Speaking to Chris Jericho on the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Lee stated that bassist Phil Soussan and keyboardist John Sinclair plotted his downfall.
“Ozzy said it was time for me to spread my wings and get my own thing going. I’m like, ‘Huh, okay.’ That’s what he told me. And Sharon told me that ‘there are certain members in the band that you’re rubbing the wrong way’. I know those members were Phil and the keyboard player, John Sinclair. This all seems so petty.”
The Dispute About Working at Night
For Lee, rock music has always been a nighttime activity. He preferred writing, rehearsing, and creating music late into the night, which was also how the band had operated during the making of Bark at the Moon and The Ultimate Sin. When preparations began for the next record, he expected rehearsals to continue the same way.
But Phil Soussan pushed for daytime rehearsals, arguing that nights were better spent attending Hollywood parties. Lee refused, stating that writing and rehearsal came first and that the creative process functioned best at night. This disagreement created ongoing issues within the band.
“Rock ‘n’ roll, to me, is a nighttime thing. Always has been. When you gig, it’s at night, especially if you’re in a bar band, it’s until the early morning hours. And rock ‘n’ roll always just felt like a nighttime thing. And I like to rehearse at night. I like to write songs at night. That’s how I do it. That’s how we did it with ‘Bark at the Moon’ and ‘The ‘Ultimate Sin’.”
“Then we’re coming up with a new record, and, like, we’ll rehearse at night. I know Phil in particular was like, ‘Why can’t we do it during the day?’ ‘Because I don’t like the day. Shut up. Who are you?’ But he said, ‘No, but there’s all these great parties that happen at night, and I’ve never been to Hollywood, but it’d be so great to go to these parties.’ I said, ‘Yeah, well, we’re working, and I work at night, so sorry about your parties.'”
Randy Castillo Confirms the Conspiracy
Later, Lee met drummer Randy Castillo, who confirmed that Phil Soussan had conspired against him. Lee insisted Castillo had no reason to lie, especially since Lee helped him land the Ozzy gig.
“We went to England, and Ozzy – because it’s the Ozzy Osbourne band – brought his choice over, which was Fred Coury from Cinderella. And he brought him over. Fred was good some days, and then some days he was just worthless. I don’t know what it was, if it was nerves or whatever, but…then Ozzy would yell at him, ‘Why in the hell did I spend my money bringing you over?'”
“So he went back home, and then Daisley’s choice was Jimmy DeGrasso. Brought him over, and Ozzy said he didn’t hit hard enough, which, you know, he probably didn’t. He was very technical.”
“He could do all that shit, but Ozzy kept at him, ‘Hit harder! Hit hard! You hit like a girl! And so off he went. And then Sharon, Ozzy, Bob, and I were all sitting around. ‘Well, now what are we gonna do?’ ‘What about my choice?!'”
Castillo’s Gratitude and Lee’s Perspective
Castillo learned from Sharon Osbourne that Lee was the reason he had been given the opportunity. He showed deep gratitude to Lee and made it clear that he felt indebted to him for helping jump-start his career with Ozzy.
Because of this history, Lee is certain that Castillo played no part in his firing, even though Ozzy later suggested publicly that a drummer had influenced the decision. Lee believes Ozzy simply mixed up the details.
“I wasn’t gonna tell him that I did that, but Sharon told him, ‘You’re only over here because of Jake, and you’re only in the band now because of Jake.’ And then Randy came up and said, ‘I owe you. I owe you for the rest of my life. Thank you.'”
“So I know he had nothing to do with me getting fired, even though Ozzy, at one point, in some interview, said it was ‘Randy, the drummer.’ I think he was just confused as to who it was.”
