Sharon Osbourne has posted a new photo kissing her husband Ozzy Osbourne in a pool, as seen below.
Vinny Appice recently recalled about refusing to play with Ozzy Osbourne’s band after his brother Carmine told him that Ozzy was “pretty crazy.” He further talked about the intense experience of stepping up as the next Black Sabbath drummer shortly afterward.
Vince Appice talks about his journey with Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne
The rock and metal fans would primarily remember Appice as the drummer of Dio-era Sabbath and RJD’s subsequent solo band. However, shortly before he joined Black Sabbath in 1980, it was the famous heavy metal band’s former frontman who tried to recruit him first, as the drummer recalls in a new interview with Talkin’ Rock on 101WRIF. Eventually, Appice passed on the offer, partly because of his brother Carmine’s warning about Ozzy.
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— Sharon Osbourne (@MrsSOsbourne) August 21, 2022
“Actually, before I joined Black Sabbath, this was in 1980, the middle of the summer – I got a call from Ozzy’s camp. They wanted to fly me to England, because they were going to put a band together around Ozzy. And, you know, I’d fly out to London, meet Ozzy, hang out and see if we get along. So, I talked to my brother Carmine, who knows Ozzy, and he said he was pretty crazy. And I was really, really, young, so I didn’t go for it. I said, ‘I can’t do it.’
“And then, a month or two later, I got a call from Sabbath, and they’re in California, LA. That’s where I live. I met Tony Iommi, we got along great, and next thing you know, he invites me to rehearsal and then I’m in the band. That was quite a year, when Ozzy Osbourne calls for a project, and when that didn’t happen. And then Sabbath calls. That’s how crazy the 80s were.”
Vinny Appice arrived in Sabbath after Bill Ward’s abrupt departure during the “Heaven and Hell” tour. Given how the band had a massive Hawaii gig scheduled for the very near future, Appice found himself in an unfortunate position of having to learn the band’s entire setlist at a moment’s notice:
“Went down, met Tony, Tony liked me. He had an album with the band called Axis that I was in. And so, he liked the album that was produced by Andy Johnson, who had a really good drum sound. And Tony invited me to rehearsal. We only had four days, because Bill (Ward) left. And the next gig was in Hawaii, 30,000 seater stadium. Everybody liked me, they were so happy.
“They went to the pub, to celebrate, and I’m over there, I got to learn 13, 14 songs, help! And I stayed back with the keyboard player, Jeff Nichols at the time. We had the Sony walkman, I’m writing stuff down, and I had a whole book to get me through the set. It was so much pressure for me, you know, that I had to learn this stuff.”
He then went back to his refusal to join Ozzy’s band and his brother Carmine’s exact words, Vinny said:
“I said, ‘I got this offer, what do you think? Is Ozzy crazy?’ I mean, I never even left the country. I went to Canada at that point. And then, England, ‘Oh, my God,’ an overseas flight. It was all new, everything was new, and I was young. And then, Carmine said, ‘Well, I was at the Rainbow [Bar and Grill] with Ozzy, not long ago, and we’re eating something,’ and somebody came over to talk to Carmine, he turns his head talking to somebody, and then he turns his head back and sees Ozzy asleep in his bowl of spaghetti. [laughs]”
