Quiet Riot drummer Frankie Banali has recalled how he nearly joined Ozzy Osbourne’s band alongside Randy Rhoads – until the singer’s record label blocked the move.
Rhoads signed up with Ozzy in 1979 after leaving Quiet Riot, while Banali didn’t become a member until the following year.
The drummer tells That Metal Show: “I was in a three-piece band called Monarch and we were playing the same circuit. We actually played with Quiet Riot a few times.
“When Randy went to audition for Ozzy, afterwards he calls me up and goes, ‘You want to come and play with this guy?’
“I said, ‘The guy from Black Sabbath? Okay. I don’t have a car.’ He goes, ‘I’ll pick you up.’”
A number of rehearsals followed, which Banali says “sounded great.” He continues: “That was going to be the band – but ultimately the label decided they were only going to spend money on one guy, and the guy was Randy.”
The pair kept in touch until Rhoads’ death in a plane crash in 1982. But asked how well he knew the guitarist, Banali replies: “Not as well as people would assume.”
Quiet Riot recently launched documentary movie Well Now You’re Here There’s No Way Back. Ozzy and Black Sabbath are planning to record their final album next year.
