During a new chat with VRP Rocks, Vinny Appice recalled how he turned down an opportunity to play in Ozzy Osbourne’s band back in 1980.
When asked how he got the call to join Black Sabbath to replace their original drummer Bill Ward, Appice replied:
“Even before that, right before Sabbath, I got a call from Sharon Osborne, and they were putting Ozzy’s band together. She was trying to get him straightened out, and he’s in England and making the first record. So they called me and said, ‘Hey, this is Sharon. We’re putting a band together. We’ll fly you to England. Hang out with Ozzy and see how it goes.”
Vinny’s Decision To Decline Ozzy
Disclosing why he rejected an offer from Osbourne, the musician went on to explain:
“Oh wow, I was 20 years old. I’d never been out of the country except for Canada. So I asked Carmine, my brother, and said, ‘Is Ozzy crazy? I mean, should I do this and go all the way over there?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, he’s pretty crazy,’ so I turned it down. I just told her I couldn’t do it and then about a month later, Sabbath calls.”
Accepting The Opportunity To Play With Black Sabbath
Vinny then talked about why it was easy for him to accept Sabbath’s invitation to join them:
“They are in California, they’re in Los Angeles. That’s where I live, and they said, ‘Bill Ward is missing in action, and we need to finish a tour. If you are interested, you can come down and meet Tony Iommi tonight.’ I said sure because it was easy. They were right down the street, actually.”
In the later part of the conversation, the drummer revealed what time period he was a member of the band, stating:
“I was in the band until Bill Ward came back.”
Appice’s Later Experience With Osbourne
Although it didn’t happen at the time, Appice had a chance to play with Ozzy when he filled in for Ward at several shows during Black Sabbath’s reunion of the original lineup in the late ’90s. Reflecting on his experiences with Osbourne, the rocker commented in a 2022 interview with Talkin’ Rock on 101WRIF:
“Ozzy’s crazy, but he’s a lot of fun. He’s a happy guy. He loves what he does. I played with them later on when he wasn’t quite over the top with drinking. I think that when he got out of Sabbath, he was still having the drinking kind of thing going on. I played with him later on, with the original Sabbath. He was, you know, cleaned up some, and he was just having fun.”
Toward the end of 1982, Appice departed Black Sabbath with singer Ronnie James Dio and together they formed the band Dio. Ward returned to the band for their ‘Born Again’ album.
You can watch the entire chat below.
