Ozzy Osbourne says Jimmy Page ignored his request to appear on his new album Patient Number 9.
The former Black Sabbath singer recruited an all-star line-up of guitarists to appear on the album, including Page’s fellow rock icons Eric Clapton Jeff Beck.
Speaking exclusively to Metal Hammer, Ozzy says his attempts to enlist the former Led Zeppelin legend to appear on the album as well went unanswered.
“I don’t even know if he plays any more, but I thought getting Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page meant having the greatest guitarists on the planet,” Ozzy tells Metal Hammer. “But I never heard from him. Maybe he’d lost his phone or something!”
Patient Number 9 does feature a stellar array of guest stars, including Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan and late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. It also marks the return of guitarist Zakk Wylde, who makes his first appearance on an Ozzy album since 2007’s Black Rain, plus a reunion with the singer’s former Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi on the tracks Degradation Rules and No Escape From Now.
“Those Tony Iommi tracks, especially No Escape From Now, if Geezer and Bill had played on them would have made a fucking great Sabbath tracks,” Ozzy says
Ozzy and Iommi recently made a surprise appearance at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in their hometown of Birmingham, where the played Sabbath classics Iron Man and Paranoid.