Ozzy Osbourne has paid tribute to Randy Rhoads, less than a week after it was announced that the legendary guitarist will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Rhoads, who played in Ozzy's band four decades ago, will receive the Musical Excellence Award at this year's induction ceremony, which will be held at Cleveland, Ohio's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on October 30. The Musical Excellence Award is given to artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Ozzy said in part: "I knew him for a very short amount of time. But what he gave me in that short amount of time was immeasurable in fucking greatness. To get somebody like Randy Rhoads to play on two albums, and for those two albums to sound as good as the day they were recorded, is something else. And I'm forever in gratitude for that. God only knows where that man would be today. The very fact that he’s not here to breathe the air is just a fucking crime. "Thank God that he's getting recognized by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. He finally got there in the end. I'm sad that his mother was not alive to see it, because he was very close to his mom. I know his brother, Kelle, and his sister, Kathy, are going to be really chuffed about it. It shows that he's not been forgotten. He was a dedicated, true musician, and he was a lovely guy. I still think about him all the time." Rhoads played on Osbourne's seminal records "Blizzard Of Ozz" (1980) and "Diary Of A Madman" but tragically died in a plane crash when he was just 25 years old, on March 19, 1982. He influenced many musicians and is considered one of the greatest guitartists of all time. His death was a huge shock to the world and Ozzy wrote in his autobiography "I Am Ozzy" that he almost quit music after Randy's passing. The Rock Hall induction ceremony will be broadcast on HBO Max and streamed on HBO Max at a later date.
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