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00:00I was 16 years old and I just cut out of school for a month.
00:02The Osbournes were like, we'll take you on our tour bus.
00:05Pay for all your hotel rooms and here's a backstage pass
00:08so you don't need to buy any tickets to any shows.
00:11I was aware how fantastically lucky I was to be given this privilege.
00:16Rock, metal, frog and everything in between.
00:20Welcome to this episode of Talkin' Rock with Meltdown.
00:23Don't forget to follow the audio only Talkin' Rock podcast on all podcast platforms.
00:28And now, it's time for today's conversation.
00:31Here's Meltdown.
00:33So Steve, how you doing, man?
00:34I'm good. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
00:36Yeah, you're welcome.
00:37So the first thing I want to ask you, this is going to sound weird,
00:40but when's your birthday?
00:42November 27th, coming right up. Thanksgiving this year.
00:45Oh, well, happy early birthday.
00:47The reason I ask is because we're about six months apart.
00:50I was born in March and I discovered Ozzy as a youth in the early 80s
00:55when I heard crazy training.
00:56And the first concert I saw was in 1984 with Ozzy and Motley on that Bark at the Moon tour
01:00in January.
01:02So we're like the same age and we kind of discovered Ozzy around the same time.
01:06And I saw that's when your correspondence kind of started with Ozzy.
01:09Is that correct?
01:10That is.
01:10And in fact, you were ahead of me.
01:12You're better than me because my first show I saw was also in August 84.
01:17You also played with Motley Crue, funnily enough.
01:18But yeah, so you were seven months ahead of me.
01:21Yeah.
01:21And then so explain to people how this works, because I mean, nowadays with the Internet,
01:25it's like, you know, we got the Internet, you got email, you got, you know, you can DM people.
01:29I mean, there's a million ways to contact somebody.
01:31But back in the early 80s, did your mom or father, your mom or dad, they contacted Ozzy's people, correct?
01:38Absolutely.
01:38Exactly like you said, this is this is four decades ago, years before the Internet.
01:43And Ozzy announced he was playing Rock in Rio, which was the biggest rock festival the world
01:47had ever seen.
01:47That stage was a 10 day event.
01:50It was Queen and Ozzy and ACDC and Rod Stewart and yes, and all these bands.
01:54And my dad amazingly wanted to go to this show.
01:58And my mom, I was a huge Ozzy fan.
02:00So my mom wrote to the Ozzy Osbourne fan club, wrote a letter and said, we're trying to get to Brazil.
02:07Do you have any details?
02:08How do we get tickets?
02:09Where is it?
02:10What's happening?
02:11How's the organization work?
02:12And Ozzy's secretary called my mom.
02:15My mom hadn't even put a phone number on the letter, but she found out her number.
02:19She called her and she said, if you're serious, if you're going to go to Brazil, don't worry about anything.
02:24We'll take care of everything when you get there.
02:26Just get yourselves to Rio.
02:27And so I get there, they give me a backstage pass.
02:31They put me on the side of the stage to watch Ozzy shows.
02:35They put me on Ozzy's bus to and from the venue.
02:39And then on the last day, Ozzy invited me and my parents to have breakfast with him.
02:45No handlers or assistants or security.
02:48Just the four of us went for breakfast.
02:51And that's really how it all started yet.
02:53Now, like I said, I discovered Ozzy when I heard crazy train.
02:56I mean, it changed my life.
02:57It's like, where can I find more of this?
02:59And from that moment on, I became a huge Ozzy fan.
03:03What was your gateway to Ozzy or to metal?
03:06Again, a year later, it was Diary of a Madman, really.
03:09I mean, I was a rock fan.
03:10I was, you know, Iron Maiden and ACDC.
03:13And I, you know, I grew up in Belfast and in Northern Ireland, it was a miserable time.
03:18So, of course, your environment influences that.
03:21And it's, you know, it's no coincidence that a town like Birmingham produced Judas Priest and Black Sabbath.
03:26And it was the same with Belfast.
03:27You know, it was a miserable, grungy time.
03:29So all the big bands were, you know, the Maidens and the DCs and the Motorheads and all that kind of stuff.
03:35And I remember I had two friends at school and one of them brought in Diary of a Madman, the vinyl, to lend to another friend.
03:43And I remember, so I go, oh, what's this?
03:45Who's this guy?
03:45Who's this?
03:46Or whatever.
03:47And I recorded it.
03:48I can still, in my mind's eye, I can still see this blue and white C60 cassette tape that I recorded it onto.
03:55And I played it to death.
03:56And that was really, that album to this day, it's probably my favorite album of all time.
04:02I think Diary of a Madman was what started everything.
04:05Yeah.
04:05And then you meet Ozzy.
04:07And how do you remain in contact with him?
04:09I mean, you know, obviously you said you had lunch or breakfast and stuff with him.
04:14And we're talking like, you know, the early 80s or the mid 80s, I should say.
04:17So does he give you a number?
04:19How does this friendship evolve?
04:21So I was lucky that the Ozzy secretary, the woman who had phoned my mom initially, although she'd worked in the music business for years, she wasn't an Ozzy fan.
04:31And they were starting, they had a fan club, but they were sort of ramping it up.
04:34They wanted more fan engagement.
04:36Of course, nowadays, it's email blasts and Instagram or whatever.
04:39But back then you wrote, you sent out a newsletter once every two months or whatever.
04:44And this is what's going on.
04:45And so I got involved.
04:47They asked for my help.
04:49I would write stuff for the fan club.
04:51And again, this is before Google.
04:53So kids would write in and say, what was the B-side to this single?
04:57Or where do I get the lyrics to this song?
04:59Or what was the third track on this?
05:02And that kind of stuff.
05:02And then she would call me.
05:04She started calling me the consultant and people would come and she would call me up and say, hey, what year was so-and-so in the band or what album is this on?
05:12And those kind of things.
05:14So I was very lucky.
05:15I was like the right kid in the right place at the right time sort of thing, because then I got involved.
05:20And I would speak to his secretary like all the time.
05:23She would be calling me up and she would.
05:25And so then in 86, so this is the ultimate sin tour.
05:29This is a year after Rio.
05:31I was 16 years old.
05:33And I just cut out of school for a month.
05:35I had saved my money, all my like allowance and done all the jobs.
05:40And I said, I'm going to travel around.
05:41He was doing a month in the UK and Ireland.
05:44And my plan was to stay in youth hostels and to jump onto buses and trains and follow the tour for a month.
05:51And again, the Osbournes were like, no, we'll take you on our tour bus and we'll pay for all your hotel rooms.
05:58And here's a backstage pass.
06:00So you don't need to buy any tickets to any shows.
06:03Jesus Christ.
06:03That's like the 16 year old's wet dream.
06:06Yeah, I was 16 years old.
06:08I was on tour with Ozzy Osbourne and Jack, his son, Jack, was lucky.
06:13You know, I was lucky enough that he volunteered to write a forward for my book.
06:16And his line is, Stephen was there in the 80s, a decade my dad famously doesn't remember.
06:24So it's like a whole decade.
06:26It wasn't like a drunken night where you pass out, blackout drunk.
06:29This was a decade that he doesn't remember.
06:32Wow.
06:32You know, I remember that Ozzy coming down the staircase of the Bark at the Moon tour in the beginning of the show.
06:38And I think he had like these big wings.
06:40He had it covered his face and then he opened up his face like this.
06:42And it's like it's like, you know, as a kid, I'm just getting chills thinking about it.
06:46But then to have breakfast with them and tour with them, I'd be like, this is insane.
06:50Yeah.
06:51Oh, absolutely.
06:52Even then, I again, I mentioned in the book that that I find I've actually forgotten about.
06:57It was only when I started to write the book and I sort of dug out my boxes from the attic.
07:00And even then, as a 16 year old, I had taken notes every night and they're very brief, but they're things that Ozzy told me or things that were done or stories.
07:11And I kept.
07:12So I was aware, even at 16, whenever we were all, you know, self-absorbed, I was aware how fantastically lucky I was to be given this privilege.
07:22And then you write this book and it's like, well, let me back up here real fast.
07:26So I just read Last Writes.
07:28And so I knew some of those stories, some of the stories I'd kind of heard a little bit, some I haven't heard.
07:33What did you think of that book?
07:34Oh, I've got to watch those.
07:36Yeah.
07:37And actually, I finally, I only read it last week.
07:40It took me three or four months to get to it because it's obviously everything is still pretty painful.
07:45Yeah.
07:46Yeah.
07:46And then you started writing your book, what, six years ago, I think I read?
07:51Absolutely.
07:51So six years ago, I, so again, that was, it was funny.
07:54That was one of the things I was worried about.
07:56I started in January, 2020.
07:59And so the publishing world works really slowly.
08:02And this book was always scheduled to come out in November, 2025.
08:07Oh, no.
08:07Yeah.
08:08And so I worried that it, it looked like a cash in, that it looked like this book was sort of rushed to tie in.
08:15And, but thankfully, you know, the Osbournes and those around him knew that I'd written this book and that it was due to come out.
08:24And in fact, again, Jack writes about in the foreword, how we discussed it, you know, because I was, you know, I was like, I'm worried this is going to look like I'm cashing in on your dad's death.
08:34Yeah.
08:35No, no, we know, we know it's fine.
08:36And, you know, what is something, what is something that, that you take away from Ozzy that people might be surprised to know?
08:42I mean, Ozzy was kind of like a, no pun intended, but he was kind of like an open book, so to speak.
08:46But there's got to be stuff that, you know, that, that you saw that people might be surprised to know about the Prince of Darkness.
08:52Oh, absolutely.
08:52And so you're exactly right.
08:54There were no, there were no back doors with Ozzy.
08:57Ozzy, if Ozzy liked you, you knew it.
08:59If he didn't like you, you knew it.
09:00He never tried to be anything.
09:01He wasn't.
09:02He was a, you know, working class hero from, from start to finish.
09:05She never, but he was riddled.
09:07I think that sort of the, the main takeaway, if you like, if you had to say to me, what one thing might people not know?
09:14And you would probably know this if you read the book though, is he was riddled with insecurity.
09:18He was always thought he was an imposter.
09:21He always, he would, you know, he would say, somebody would say, why don't we get so-and-so to play on your album?
09:27He would be, he doesn't want to play my album.
09:29You know, he just did not realize, it wasn't an act.
09:33He did not realize where he stands in the party of rock that he, you know, in my mind, he's the greatest hard rock front man the world's ever seen.
09:42And he never, he is for those stone cold classic songs, you know, the war pigs and the paranoids and the crazy trends that are the greatest rock anthems of all time.
09:52And he would still, to him, it was just a song and he was just Aussie and he had no clue, I feel, of exactly how revered he was in the world of rock.
10:03Yeah.
10:03And I think that that harkens back to the story the first time he met Paul McCartney, correct?
10:07Because he, I don't know if he, if he thought that Paul McCartney would know who he was.
10:12Yeah.
10:12And he said, he said, I wasn't there, but I have seen the video and he basically says to him, you were the reason I started playing music kind of thing.
10:20And that was one of the, one of the greatest, you know, one of the greatest moments of Aussie's life was meeting Paul McCartney.
10:26Yeah.
10:27You know, it says, you know, there, there's the old saying, don't meet your heroes.
10:31I've had the chance and the privilege to meet a lot of my heroes from a Dio to Alice Cooper to Aussie a few times.
10:37And all of them have been great.
10:40I don't know where that phrase comes from.
10:42And obviously, you know, Aussie was a hero of yours and you grew to a friendship with him that lasted four decades.
10:48Oh, absolutely.
10:49Absolutely.
10:49And, and, and, and yeah, you're right.
10:51I mean, I was so lucky.
10:53I was so lucky with Aussie and the, the sort of the family vibe he engendered, you know, with Elvis, he having his wife as his manager and the kids were always on tour and all that kind of stuff.
11:02And I feel, I did, you know, I, I spent years in the music business and I was lucky enough to meet, um, uh, some famous stars as well.
11:11And yeah, I mean, and many of them were great.
11:14Many of them were so, um, uh, generous with their time and, but Aussie to me still was on another level.
11:22Now, honestly, I mean, when you lose someone, uh, in your family or whatever, uh, you know, it's, it's, there's a lot of grief and whatnot.
11:28And losing someone that's in the spotlight like that, uh, how do you think, uh, Kelly and the, and, and, uh, Sharon and the rest of the family are going to, are going to go on?
11:37It seems like, you know, it seems like they're still grieving.
11:39I mean, uh, it seems like they're getting some stuff out there right now, but have you been in contact with them?
11:43Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
11:44I mean, imagine, uh, you know, think of when anyone dies and what you go through on the emotional grieving level, of course, but also those, those things that you need to do, the things that need to be sorted out because somebody has unexpectedly died.
11:59So you're dealing with those two things and then it's Aussie Osborne.
12:03Yeah, it's, it's, you imagine if, you know, if an elderly relative dies and you got to go to their house and sort through their attic or whatever it may be, you imagine what that's like when it's Aussie Osborne.
12:14So, you know, they have the world on their shoulders.
12:17Um, but hopefully like, like everything else, this too will pass.
12:20Right.
12:22You know, uh, I was, uh, I was kind of hoping, and I think Aussie and his, and his family were kind of, uh, did their plan, at least from what I saw from the outside and what I read was that Aussie was going to do the back.
12:33To the beginning show and then kind of just drift out of the spotlight and live off the right remaining time in his life.
12:39But it's kind of, it's kind of, I don't want to say poetic justice or ironic, but it's kind of weird.
12:43The Aussie leaves the spotlight and then passes away.
12:46Absolutely.
12:46Yeah.
12:47And I think you're on, and even at the funeral, we were kind of talking about that, that, that this was like a living week.
12:53This was perfect.
12:54It's hard.
12:55It was so hard.
12:55You know, we like two weeks after the show, we all find ourselves back in England.
13:00Like a reunion that none of us wanted.
13:02We'd all just been there and we all had to go on planes and come back again.
13:06So again, I'm not downplaying the awfulness and how terrible it was, but as we get further away from it, it is absolutely, like you said, poetic justice.
13:18Aussie, Aussie Osborne deserved to go out in front of millions of people watching him around the world.
13:25And, and, and did we really want Aussie in a wheelchair suffering for years?
13:32That's not how I feel the world.
13:35He deserves to be remembered by the world.
13:37I kind of feel, and I might not put this in a, I might not verbalize this the proper way, but I, I kind of feel a little bit like Aussie got a little bit ripped off because he, you know, like you said, he was so insecure and he was, you know, hypochondriac and all this stuff going.
13:50And then it's like, here's his chance to just like, let go and relax.
13:54And then he passes away.
13:56Yeah.
13:56Yeah.
13:56No, I think, and you know, and I think there was Sharon, uh, had a lot of plans.
14:01I feel for them to do stuff, uh, and just enjoy.
14:03They just work.
14:04They have worked nonstop.
14:06They've either worked in the music business or he's, he worked to get better.
14:10Right.
14:10His health issues were crippling.
14:13His health issues have been so in his surgeries and, and everything else he's gone through.
14:17And I get what you're saying.
14:19I do that.
14:20It was almost cheeky.
14:21Finally got done.
14:22He finally retired and he never got the chance to, to enjoy it.
14:26If you like.
14:27And that, and that absolutely, that's a fair point.
14:29I feel.
14:30All right.
14:30Final question here for you.
14:31What was the, what do you remember the last conversation you had with them?
14:35And it was the last time you saw him.
14:36I, I, I take it at a back to the beginning, correct?
14:39Yeah.
14:39And so, uh, the day after the show, I got a text saying that Aussie wants to see you before you leave.
14:46And so I was packing up my hotel room and I went up to his hotel suite and he was there.
14:52And I was so grateful that somebody who worked from took some pictures, the photograph in the book.
14:58He said to me, the last thing he said to me, we had like, you know, some time together.
15:02And then he gave me a big hug and he said to me, call me, call if you need anything.
15:07We have been friends a long time, Stephen Ray.
15:10And, and I'm so grateful that, that, that, that somebody who worked from took a picture of the two of us together because that was the last time I saw him after 40 years.
15:19Well, that's great.
15:20Uh, any Aussie fan, of course, uh, on your Christmas list this year, uh, Aussie and me, uh, your four, four decade long relationship with, uh, the Prince of Darkness.
15:29I have to admit, I'm jealous.
15:30I got to meet Aussie a few times.
15:32He was always great to me.
15:33A great interview.
15:33Always very candid, uh, always very funny.
15:36People ask me sometimes what Aussie's like.
15:37I mean, obviously you know him way better than I did, but, uh, just a few chances I had to meet him.
15:41Uh, he was, he was a real person and of course a giant rock star.
15:45Yeah, absolutely.
15:46He was the greatest.
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