Randy Rhoads
This page is dedicated to one of the greatest guitarists in the world, Randy Rhoads
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Randy Rhoads (Also
Known As The Best Guitarist In The World)
Randall
William Rhoads was born on December 6, 1956 in St. John’s hospital in Santa
Monica, California. Randy first became interested in guitar at the age of 6 ½
when he played on his grandfathers old acoustic Gibson guitar. He then went one
step further and started having lessons six months later at the age of 7. At the
age of 12; Randy became interested in rock guitar. His first band was called
Quiet Riot, which he formed at the age of 16, and they were rapidly becoming one
of the most popular bands in Los Angeles.
About 5 months
before Randy left Quiet Riot, he went to The Charvel Jackson Company to have a
custom guitar made. Several meetings and drawings later they would ultimately
create a black and white polka dot flying "V", a guitar that would
become synonymous with the name Randy Rhoads. The guitar would cost Randy
$738.00.
Later he was to
get head hunted by Ozzy Osbourne’s manager to have an audition with Ozzy
Osbourne to start his first solo project band. Randy Rhoads turned up to Ozzys’
apartment only to find him passed out from a concoction of drugs and booze. When
Ozzy came round randy plugged in a Gibson les Paul and started playing, he got
the job straight away and practicing with bassist, Rudy Sarzo and Drummer, Tommy
Aldridge began straight away in a studio.
During these
sessions they produced such masterpieces as Mr. Crowley, Crazy Train, Steal
Away, You Looking At Me and many more. With the release of their Mr. Crowley E.P
they got into the Guinness Book of World Records. At the end of their U.S tour
Randy re-visited Grover Jackson and had another slight variation of the Randy
Rhoads flying V.
The band only
recorded two albums with Randy Rhoads and Diary of a Madman was released in
1981. He won many awards for best new guitarist in magazines, however, Randy
Rhoads wanted to temporarily quit the rock world and get his Masters in
classical guitar, as it often consumed a lot of his time. March 18, 1982, the
Ozzy Osbourne band played what would be their last show with Randy Rhoads at the
Civic
Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. From Knoxville, the band was headed to
Lakeland, Florida for Saturday’s "Rock Super Bowl XIV" with
Foreigner, Bryan Adams and UFO.
The
bus arrived at Flying Baron Estates in Leesburg at about 8:00 a.m. on the 19th
and parked approximately 90 yards away from the landing strip and approximately
15 yards in front of the house that would later serve as the accident
site. On the bus were: Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Arden, Rudy Sarzo, Tommy
Aldrige, Don Airey, Wanda Aycock, Andrew Aycock, Rachel Youngblood, Randy Rhoads
and the bands tour manager. Andrew Aycock and his ex-wife, Wanda, went into
Jerry Calhoun’s house to make some coffee while some members of Ozzy
Osbourne’s band slept in the bus. Being stored inside of the aircraft hanger
at Flying Baron Estates was a plane. Andrew Aycock, who had driven the groups
bus all night from Knoxville and who had a pilots license, apparently took the
plane without permission and took keyboardist Don Airey and the bands tour
manager up in the plane for a few minutes, at times flying low to the ground.
Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, Andrew Aycock’s medical
certificate (3rd class) had expired, thus making his pilots’
license not valid.
Approximately 9:00 a.m. on the morning of March 19th, Andrew Aycock took Rachel Youngblood and Randy Rhoads up for a few minutes. Randy really wanted to experience a mock dive-bombing run over the stationary tour bus. During this trip the plane began to fly low to the ground, at times below tree level, and "buzzed" the bands tour bus three times. On the fourth pass (banking to the left in a south-west direction) the planes left wing struck the left side of the bands tour bus (parked facing east) puncturing it in two places approximately half way down on the right side of the bus. The plane, with the exception of the left wing, was thrown over the bus, hit a nearby pine tree, severing it approximately 10 feet up from the bottom, before it crashed into the garage on the west side of the home owned by Jerry Calhoun. The plane was an estimated 10 feet off the ground traveling at approximately 120 - 150 knots during impact. The house was almost immediately engulfed in flames and destroyed by the crash and ensuing fire, as was the garage and the two vehicles inside, an Oldsmobile and a Ford Granada. Jesse Herndon, who was inside the house during the impact, escaped with no injuries. The largest piece of the plane that was left was a wing section about 6 to 7 feet long. The very wing that caught the side of the tour bus was deposited just to the north of the bus. The severed pine tree stood between the bus and the house.
Ozzy, who was
asleep at the time, woke up to the loud crashing assuming the bus had crashed.
When he realized the bus was stationary he walked to the front noticing the
punctures in the side of the bus and got out fearing something terrible had
happened. He ventured outside and found out the tragic truth. This was a
crushing blow to Ozzy having lost his best friend and an extremely talented
musician. Ozzy realized how good Randy really was and he could only imagine what
the band would have become in the future. Ozzy had described Randy as “a
greatly unique person” and “the most talented musician he had ever met”
just before they set out on tour.
