72 Facts About Randy Rhoads

Randall William Rhoads was an American guitarist.

Randy Rhoads was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albums Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman.

Randy Rhoads was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.

Originally educated in classical guitar, Randy Rhoads combined these early influences with heavy metal, helping form a subgenre later known as neoclassical metal.

Randy Rhoads reached his peak as the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne's solo career, performing on tracks including "Crazy Train" and "Mr Crowley" on the Blizzard of Ozz album.

Randy Rhoads died in a plane crash while on tour with Osbourne in Florida in 1982.

Randy Rhoads helped popularize various guitar techniques now common in heavy metal music, including two-handed tapping, tremolo bar dive bombs, and intricate scale patterns, drawing comparisons to his contemporary, Eddie Van Halen.

Randy Rhoads has been included in several published "Greatest Guitarist" lists, and has been cited by other prominent guitarists as a major influence.

Randy Rhoads was born on December 6,1956, in Santa Monica, California, the youngest of three children.

Randy Rhoads had received a bachelor's degree in music from UCLA and had played piano professionally.

Randy Rhoads opened a music school in North Hollywood called Musonia to support the family.

The Randy Rhoads family did not own a stereo, and the children created their own music at home to entertain themselves.

Randy Rhoads listened to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones as a child and would imitate their performances with his brother Kelle in the family garage.

Randy Rhoads began folk and classical guitar lessons at approximately age seven at his mother's music school.

Randy Rhoads became interested in rock guitar and began lessons at Musonia from Scott Shelly.

Randy Rhoads received piano lessons from his mother to help build his understanding of music theory.

Randy Rhoads met future bandmate Kelly Garni while attending John Muir Middle School in Burbank, California, and the two became best friends.

Randy Rhoads spent several months playing at backyard parties around the Los Angeles area in the mid-1970s.

Live bootleg recordings were very popular at that time, and Randy Rhoads began to take note of the differences between studio recordings and the live versions, particularly the different licks guitarists incorporated when playing live.

Randy Rhoads began to memorize these licks and taught himself to play them.

Randy Rhoads' brother states that a July 11,1971, Alice Cooper concert at the Long Beach Auditorium that the pair attended was a defining point in the guitarist's life.

At approximately the same time, Randy Rhoads began teaching guitar in his mother's school during the day and playing live gigs at night.

Randy Rhoads graduated from Burbank High School, participating in a special program that allowed him to condense his studies and graduate early so he could teach guitar and pursue music full-time.

Randy Rhoads had envisioned a frontman in the vein of Alice Cooper or David Bowie, but DuBrow was persistent and would not take no for an answer.

Randy Rhoads was left with no choice but to fire his longtime friend and band co-founder.

Randy Rhoads initially told Quiet Riot bandmate Rudy Sarzo that he was not really interested in auditioning, but finally agreed to go simply to get Strum off his back.

Randy Rhoads got the call for the audition just before his final show with Quiet Riot in September 1979.

The day before Osbourne was scheduled to return to England, Randy Rhoads agreed to audition for Osbourne at a Los Angeles studio.

Randy Rhoads brought his Gibson Les Paul and a practice amp and started warming up.

Randy Rhoads recalled later, "I just turned up and did some riffs, and he said, 'You've got the gig'; I had the weirdest feeling, because I thought, 'You didn't even hear me yet".

Randy Rhoads was scheduled to meet Osbourne the following night in his hotel room.

Disillusioned with Quiet Riot's inability to land an American recording deal, Randy Rhoads discussed with his mother the possibility of joining an already established band.

Randy Rhoads flew to England only to return home a couple of days later, being turned away by English customs at Heathrow Airport when he didn't have the necessary work permit.

Randy Rhoads flew to England on November 27,1979, and met with Osbourne and Daisley at the Jet Records' offices in London.

Years later, Osbourne said in his autobiography that he could not understand why a musician as talented as Randy Rhoads would want to get involved with a "bloated alcoholic wreck" like himself.

Randy Rhoads' guitar playing had changed due to the level of freedom allowed by Osbourne and Daisley.

In December 1981, Randy Rhoads was voted "Best New Talent" by the readers of Guitar Player magazine and voted "Best Heavy Metal Guitarist" by the readers of UK-based Sounds magazine.

At about this time, Randy Rhoads reunited with Dubrow for a one-off Quiet Riot show at the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood during a brief trip home.

Randy Rhoads was warned by manager Sharon Arden not to do such a thing again.

Kerslake has maintained that Randy Rhoads almost left Osbourne's band in late 1981 due to his displeasure with the firing of himself and Daisley.

Randy Rhoads said he was going to leave the band as he did not want to leave us behind.

Around this time, Randy Rhoads remarked to Osbourne, bandmates Aldridge and Sarzo, and friend Kelly Garni that he was considering leaving rock for a few years to earn a degree in classical guitar at UCLA.

Friend and ex-Quiet Riot bassist Garni has speculated in interviews that if Randy Rhoads had continued to play rock, he might have gone the route of more keyboard-driven rock, which had become popular through the 1980s.

At the time of his death, Randy Rhoads had already made the decision to part ways with Osbourne once his contractual obligations had been fulfilled.

Many shows were simply canceled, and Randy Rhoads grew tired of the unpredictability.

Osbourne viewed this decision as a betrayal, and the relationship between him and Randy Rhoads became quite strained.

Randy Rhoads began taunting Rhoads with claims that the likes of Frank Zappa and Gary Moore were willing to replace him on the proposed live album.

Osbourne's unstable and confrontational behavior soon convinced Randy Rhoads to leave the band.

Randy Rhoads grudgingly agreed to perform on the live album with the stipulation that he would depart after fulfilling his contractual obligations to Jet Records, which consisted of one more studio album and subsequent tour.

Randy Rhoads played his last show on Thursday, March 18,1982, at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum.

Randy Rhoads had tried unsuccessfully to coax bassist Rudy Sarzo to join him on the flight; Sarzo chose to get some extra sleep instead.

Randy Rhoads was killed instantly, as were Aycock and Youngblood.

All three bodies were burned beyond recognition, and Randy Rhoads was identified by dental records and personal jewelry.

Randy Rhoads told of seeing a struggle between Rhoads and Aycock in the cockpit as the plane approached the bus, seconds before the crash.

Randy Rhoads was afraid of flying and Youngblood had a bad heart.

Randy Rhoads originally had no intention of getting in the plane; Duncan explained how the guitarist ended up on the doomed flight:.

Randy Rhoads' brother-in-law flew from California to Leesburg to identify the guitarist's remains.

Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake, who had recorded Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman with Randy Rhoads and had been recently fired from Osbourne's band, were together in Houston, Texas, with Uriah Heep later that day when they got word of the accident.

Randy Rhoads immediately sensed that Sarzo was having a hard time continuing without Rhoads.

Randy Rhoads' funeral was held at the First Lutheran Church in Burbank, California.

Randy Rhoads was buried at Mountain View Cemetery in San Bernardino, California.

Randy Rhoads was an avid collector of toy trains, and he traveled around England in search of them when he first arrived from the United States to record Blizzard of Ozz in 1980.

Randy Rhoads told Osbourne bandmate and close friend Rudy Sarzo that he and Sharon Arden were having a few celebratory drinks together in a hotel one night and ended up sleeping together.

Osbourne has said that Randy Rhoads did not use drugs and drank very little, preferring Anisette when he did drink.

Shortly before leaving Quiet Riot in 1979, Randy Rhoads presented hand-drawn pictures of a polka-dot Flying V-style guitar to Karl Sandoval, a California luthier.

In December 2019, Ozzy Osbourne offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of several pieces of equipment, most of it once belonging to Randy Rhoads, stolen from the premises of Musonia music school on the night of November 28,2019.

Randy Rhoads placed 36th on Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists.

Randy Rhoads placed fourth on Guitar World Magazine's 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists, and 26th in Guitar Worlds 50 Fastest Guitarists list.

Randy Rhoads' talent was not always met with such praise during his lifetime.

In June 2012, Velocity Publishing Group announced a comprehensive Randy Rhoads biography, written by Steven Rosen and Andrew Klein, and containing over 400 pages of material.

On January 18,2017, Randy Rhoads was inducted into the Hall of Heavy Metal History for defining heavy metal lead guitar.

Randy Rhoads was formally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on October 30th, 2021, as a recipient of the Musical Excellence Award.