Ozzy Osbourne Wanted Jake E. Lee Back for ‘Scream’ Album
Former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee said he’d been invited to rejoin the Black Sabbath legend’s solo band ahead of his 2010 album Scream.
The call came after Osbourne had decided to dismiss Zakk Wylde and eventually took on Gus G. in the role.
Lee, who played with Osbourne from 1984 to 1987, told EonMusic that he started to "get a little itchy after 10 years … and I was jamming with bands every once and a while here in Las Vegas, and eventually, [producer] Kevin Churko, he initially contacted me because he was doing Ozzy’s albums. To be honest, I haven’t listened to Ozzy in a long time, so I don’t know which albums [Churko] did, but I know he did a couple of albums with Ozzy. … He initially contacted me because he also lives in Las Vegas, about what it would take for me to come back and play with Ozzy.”
But discussions stalled when Lee wanted to address outstanding issues from the ‘80s, when he appeared on Osbourne’s albums Bark at the Moon and The Ultimate Sin. “Those talks didn’t last long,” the guitarist said. “I mean, basically I said, ‘Look, all I want is songwriting credit for the stuff I wrote on Bark at the Moon, that’s all. … If they do that, I’d be happy to, you know see what could happen with Ozzy and me, all these years later. But, yeah, that was never going to happen.”
The contact with Churko had a positive result, however, in that Lee’s band Red Dragon Cartel was created after the producer persuaded him to return to work. Lee even suggested the possibility of his band opening for Osbourne on his farewell tour. “In payment for doing that, I would go up, and play a couple of songs … the songs that I actually played with him," Lee explained. "The offer was out there, but it wasn’t taken.”
Red Dragon Cartel will release their second LP, Patina, on Nov. 9.
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