The Life of Randy Rhoads

Early Life

Randall William Rhoads was born on December 6, 1956 in California, Rhoads was the youngest of three children. He began playing his grandfathers classical Gibson acoustic guitar at the age of 6. He was influenced by folk and classical music and was quickly leaning toward the hard Rock and Metal genre. At the age of 14 Rhoads formed a cover band called Violet Fox, and played various famous songs by bands such as The Rolling Stones. Time passed and the band slit up. Soon after, Rhoads taught his best friend how to play the Bass, and they formed a new band called The Whore. This band spent a few months playing different parties in Los Angeles.

A Star is Noticed

The Whore broke up by the time Randy Rhoads was 16, so he and his good friend/bassist moved on to create the group Quiet Riot. Quiet Riot initially played in small bars in Hollywood and local parties in Burbank, but was unable to land a record deal. Eventually, the band was able to land a record deal with Japanese label CBS/Sony Records and release their tracks in Japan. Here is a video of Randy Rhoads performing a solo with Quiet Riot.

After, Ozzy Osbourne was creating a new band and was in need of a guitarist. Randy’s name came up, and Ozzy asked Rhoads to come and audition. As soon as he plugged his guitar in and played a few riffs Ozzy instantly said “You’ve got the gig”, describing his playing as “God entering my life”. Rhoads subsequently recommended his friend, Greg Leon, who also taught guitar at Musonia for Rhoads’ mother, to replace him in Quiet Riot, and then departed for the UK to write and record with Osbourne in November 1979. It was there were he was a vital part in creating the hit “Crazy Train” and many others.

Death

Randy Rhoads’ last show was played on Thursday March 18, 1982 at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum . On March 19, 1982, the band was headed to a festival in Florida. After driving much of the night, they stopped on the property belonging to Jerry Calhoun, on it, there was a small airstrip lined with small helicopters and planes, and two houses. One belonged to the tour bus driver, Andrew Aycock, and the other was owned by Calhoun. Then Aycock took Rhoads and hairdresser/seamstress Rachel Youngblood on a flight. Airey persuaded Rhoads to go on the flight, despite his fear of flying. Rhoads apparently agreed to go for two reasons: the seamstress had a heart condition so Aycock agreed to do nothing risky. Also, Rhoads wanted to take an aerial photo as one of his hobbies was photography. During the flight, the left wing clipped the back side of the tour bus, tore the fiberglass roof then sent the plane spiraling. The plane severed the top of a pine tree and crashed into the garage of a nearby mansion, bursting into flames. Rhoads was killed instantly, as were Aycock, 36, and Youngblood, 58. All three bodies were burned beyond recognition, and were identified by dental records. It was later revealed in an autopsy that Aycock’s system showed traces of cocaine at the time; Rhoads’ toxicology test revealed only nicotine. The NTSB investigation also determined that Aycock’s medical certificate had expired and that the biannual flight review required for all pilots was overdue.

Rhoads’ funeral was held and he is interred at Mountain View Cemetery in California where his grandparents are also buried.