Jake E. Lee has led a fairly successful career as a musician, jumping to work with major talents like Ozzy Osbourne and the heavy metal band Badlands. In fact, after working with all these noteworthy artists, the 67-year-old even went on to form his own band in 2013, Red Dragon Cartel. Then there are all the solo works he delivered under his own name, like his instrumental album A Fine Pink Mist (1996) and cover album Retraced (2005).
Amidst all of this, the one period that holds significance in Lee’s career was the time he replaced guitarist Brad Gillis to work for Ozzy Osbourne. From 1982 to 1987, he began composing music and recording with other members, with one of his most notable contributions being the significant amount of music he composed for the 1983 album Bark at the Moon, which has sold around three million copies in the U.S. to date (as per Billboard).
But while he received tremendous fame and a name for himself and helped Osbourne gain an edge in the industry as well, Lee was fired rather abruptly one fine day from his gig as the guitarist. Of course, this seemingly out-of-the-blue act ignited a lot of questions from fans worldwide as to the why behind it all. Thus, here’s the real reason behind it all confessed by Ozzy himself, along with the truth on how Lee was fired and what behind-the-scenes ruckus was there.
Ozzy Osbourne Shared the Real Reason Behind Jake E. Lee’s Firing
Nearly three and a half decades after Jake E. Lee was let go from Ozzy despite being one of the biggest contributors to his success, Osbourne came clean about his firing in an interview with Stereogum. And according to what the current lead singer of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath revealed in 2022, it all had something to do with Randy Castillo, his old drummer.
Initially, he was asked, “What is it with you about having great guitarists by your side?” with reference to Lee’s outstanding performance as his guitarist. To this, Osbourne initially said, “When you’ve got a crap one, the band is crap! But when you’ve got someone who shines…” However, continuing, he revealed that he had no bad blood with Lee himself.
Osbourne went on:
“Jake E. Lee was a f—ing great guitar player, and the way it went was, Randy Castillo, my old drummer, had started to turn me against him. It was very sad because I had no qualms with the guy. He was a great guitar player.”
Apparently, it seems like it wasn’t his own decision from the beginning to let Lee go and he was seemingly gaslit into doing it. To say the least, it even seems like Osbourne regrets it, considering how he couldn’t stop gushing in praise for Lee.
How Jake E. Lee Was Fired From Ozzy
Jake E. Lee’s story of getting the boot from Ozzy is rather as pitiful as it is hilarious. In an interview with Eonmusic, the 67-year-old legendary guitarist first slammed all rumors of him getting fired via a telegram, saying, “I had no idea it was coming, but it wasn’t by telegram!” Then he shared about how it all happened on one fine evening in L.A.
Back then he initially got a call from Ozzy’s wife Sharon Osbourne inviting him out to dinner. Of course, he agreed and the two went out to have a “great dinner” before going back to the hotel to talk for a while. However, throughout the time that they were together, Sharon never once openly told him that she had taken him out for dinner to tell him he was being fired.
Lee said:
“I suppose there was clues in there, because she was talking about how; ‘Someday Jake, when you have your own band,’ I think her major piece of advice was to be on time, because I’m notoriously late for everything! So she said; ‘When you’re leader of a band, you kind of need to set an example, and you need to be on time,’ and that was the only clue I had, really.”
That said, the one he originally found out about it all from was his roommate and guitar tech. Apparently, he had just met Lee’s bandmates Phil [Soussan, bass] and Randy Castillo [drums], who asked him, “So, what are you going to do now that Jake’s out of the band?!” Obviously shocked, he had come running to Lee to ask him about it, who was equally clueless about it all.
Finally, this news was eventually confirmed to Lee by Sharon, whom he called back to ask about this. Sharing their conversation, Lee said:
“I said, ‘I just heard the weirdest rumor,’ and she broke down and said, ‘Yes, it’s true.’ And I said, ‘What, do you mean I’m fired?!’ And she goes; ‘Yes, that’s why I took you out to dinner.’ [Laughs] ‘But you never said anything!’ And she said, ‘I know! I just felt too bad and I just couldn’t do it.’ ”
So Jake E. Lee found out from his roommate that he was fired from the band? Well, pretty much so, yes, for hilariously enough, that’s what it seems like.
Jake E. Lee’s Representation Troubles With Ozzy
Before his unexpected firing, Jack E. Lee actually had some really good times with Ozzy Osbourne and the rest of his bandmates. Going on tour extensively and getting his albums awarded a double platinum status were just some of the meritorious deeds he managed to pull off throughout his time with the band. But not all times were good times.
Back when it was still the beginning of his time working with Ozzy, Lee composed a significant amount of the 1983 super-album Bark at the Moon‘s music, writing and composing songs and recording his parts for the same. However, he was allegedly cheated out of his writing and publishing claims by Sharon Osbourne, Osbourne’s wife and manager.
During an appearance on Eddie Trunk’s Trunk Nation show on SiriusXM’s Hair Nation, he revealed that originally, “I was told from the get-go, ‘[If] you write part of the songs, you’ll get writing credit, you’ll get publishing. That’s part of your deal.’” However, he was only presented with his contract after he was done laying down the final track of his guitar playing for the album.
What’s more, is that the contract he was provided with didn’t hold the terms and conditions he was promised before. As he shared, the contract specifically said, ‘Ozzy Osbourne wrote all the songs. You had nothing to do with any of the writing, you have no claim to publishing, and you cannot say so publicly.’ Of course, realizing what went wrong, Lee confronted Sharon about it.
Surprisingly enough, Sharon didn’t even try to call him a liar. If anything, she even gave him the reason as to why he would sign the contract nonetheless: ‘Because if you don’t, we’ll give you a plane ticket, you go back home and you stand in line and you sue us. In the meantime, we have all your tracks, we’ll get another guitar player, he’ll redo your tracks, and you’ll have nothing.’
Obviously, Lee wasn’t going to let some other guitarist redo his tracks and take credit for his works just like that. Thus, even though these alleged turn of events were brutally unfair, he signed onto the contract. But that was the only album that Lee seemingly let someone else take credit for, for when it came to the 1986 album The Ultimate Sin, he already had his conditions set.
As he continued to share during the same interview about how he secured songwriting credit for his work on The Ultimate Sin (via BlabberMouth.net): “Well, then, I refused to do anything until I had a contract in front of me promising me writing credit and publishing.” And, well, it all paid off as well, as the album received platinum status in May 1986 and was awarded a double platinum status in October 1994.
