🖤🎸 “Ozzie’s Last Day”: Long-Lost 1980 Rehearsal Tape Reveals the Moment Ozzy Osbourne’s Solo Era Was Born

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Every era of Ozzy Osbourne’s life is fascinating, especially the time between his dismissal from Black Sabbath in 1979 and the start of his solo career the following year. After several decades of being hidden away, a long lost rehearsal tape featuring Ozzy, beloved guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Bob Daisley from 1980 has finally been found, and it’s something every fan of the late Prince of Darkness will want to hear!

Details of the Tape

Earlier this month, UK outlet Sky News reported that the tape – marked “Ozzie Last Day” – was “left in an attic for decades” and contains audio of Ozzy rehearsing with Rhoads and Daisley in Ilketshall, Suffolk, England in January of 1980. The tape was discovered by David Jolly (aka Chabby), who became friends with Ozzy after he was fired from Black Sabbath, and it captures the trio rehearsing before they brought on drummer Lee Kerslake for Ozzy’s debut LP: 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz.

Jolly brought Sky News to his home to play the tape (which he received from Ozzy), revealing a roughly 12-minute blues rock jam session involving the three musicians.

As soon as Jolly hits play, you can hear Ozzy’s signature voice wailing over bluesy guitarwork. Jolly giggles: “See, that’s him. That’s him!”

Jolly also confesses that he’s hesitant to play the tape because it might “crinkle up,” and he reflects that despite Ozzy having “the reputation of being wild,” he “found him to be a very unassuming guy and not as the picture painted.”

“I spent more time with Ozzy than the others. Quite a few days with Ozzy, going out together and messing about,” Jolly mentions before also remarking that he was “naturally funny.” As for Rhoads, Jolly says that he’s “a lovely guy” who’s “quiet but very talented.”

Both he and Daisley were “really good people” as well, Jolly added.

Speaking of Daisley, he confirmed the details of the tape, clarifying:

As soon as I heard it, I thought: “Well, yes, that’s us, that’s Ozzy’s voice.” I don’t know what drummer that would’ve been on that tape, but it’s definitely me and Randy and Ozzy. We knew straightaway, as soon as we played together. We said, “Yep.” It clicked and we knew that [our collaboration] was going to work.

Daisley also told Sky News: “I don’t know if we were auditioning a drummer and just loosening up a bit, or we’re just clowning about . . . but it wasn’t a song we were working on because we had definite songs by then, we had several songs.”

Although it doesn’t contain a full song or anything that’d appear on Blizzard of Ozz, it is a valuable glimpse into the late Prince of Darkness started to gel with his future band.

“It’s an incredible artifact, I think,” Birmingham Music Archive founder Jez Collins told Sky News, continuing: “It captures a really significant moment in Ozzy Osbourne’s life. These things, you don’t hear that often. You don’t hear the songs put together or the beginnings of a relationship in a studio because they’re usually wiped clean or lost.”

You can see Sky News’ report about the tape below:

Ozzy Osbourne tape found after 46 years

Other Ozzy Osbourne News

The discovery of the rehearsal tape is but the latest in a string of exciting news regarding Ozzy Osbourne.

Primarily, the 2026 Grammy Awards – which took place last Sunday, Feb. 1 – included an all-star tribute to Ozzy. Specifically, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and Duff McKagan were joined by Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith, producer Andrew Watt and singer/rapper Post Malone teamed up for a cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.” Behind them, an iconic photo of Ozzy was displayed as pyrotechnics enhanced the experience.

The previously night, Machine Gun Kelly and Jelly Roll honored Ozzy at Clive Davis’ annual Pre-Grammy Gala & Grammy Salute to Industry Icons. In particular, MGK put his spin on “I Don’t Wanna Stop” from 2007’s Black Rain, and afterward, he introduced Jelly Roll’s rendition of “Mama, I’m Coming Home” (the second single from 1991’s No More Tears).

As for the surviving members of Ozzy’s immediate family, Sharon Osbourne has spoken about possibly running for mayor of Birmingham (Ozzy’s birthplace) and possibly bringing back Ozzfest in 2027.

Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath)

Ozzy Osbourne, 17 days removed from playing his final performance at the Back to the Beginning concert marking his and Black Sabbath‘s last show, died on July 22 at the age of 76.
“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love,” shared a statement from the Osbourne family.
As a member of Black Sabbath, Ozzy and his cohorts are frequently considered the pioneers of heavy metal music.
Albums such as their self-titled debut and Paranoid, both released in 1970, helped redefine a disillusioned new decade.
“We were just doing the opposite of what was happening at the time,” Osbourne later recalled. “All that love stuff of the late ’60s made me sick. We wanted to get to the dark side of life.”
Later dubbed the “Prince of Darkness,” Osbourne helped shape the band’s sound and style in the ’70s before being fired in 1979 after a couple of underperforming albums. “None of us wanted to drag this black-magic shit around forever so we tried to get a bit modern – but you should stick to what you know best,” Osbourne told the Guardian in 2011. “The thing was, at that time, I had nothing to lose. If I even got to make a new record and it was a flop, who cared?”
Osbourne shot out of the gate with a pair of smash solo albums featuring the late guitarist Randy Rhoads: 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz and 1981’s Diary of a Madman. He eventually moved away from the “black magic shit,” scoring far more mainstream hits with songs like “Shot in the Dark,” “No More Tears” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home.”
In 1996, Osbourne curated his first Ozzfest, a music and lifestyle festival built around established and up-and-coming metal and hard rock acts. The festival became an annual event, then a well-received tour which even ventured overseas.
Arguably the most unexpected turn of his career came in 2002 as Ozzy became a reality TV star. The Osbournes followed Ozzy and his family – wife, Sharon, daughter, Kelly and son, Jack – through the antics of their daily lives. The show was an instant hit for MTV, becoming the most viewed program on the network. Ozzy was introduced to a new generation of fans, while his family launched their own separate careers.
Osbourne continued to fluctuate between periods of sobriety and drug use before finally getting clean. In 2018, Osbourne admitted that he had found peace. “How did I think going into a bar and getting smashed and doing all that cocaine was fun?,” he wondered. “Right now, you had a gun, a bag of cocaine and a gallon of booze and you said, ‘Take your pick,’ I’d pick up the gun. It’s not worth it.”
He courted controversy by peeing near the Alamo, a historical shrine in Texas, and famously bit off the head of a bat. Osbourne later apologized for urinating, but only after a lengthy period in which he was banned from performing in the area. He also explained the incident with the bat, claiming that he thought it was fake.
Yet, none of this ultimately overshadowed his contributions to music. Long after all of those tabloid headlines yellow and fade, Osbourne will be remembered as a three-time Grammy winner, a member of both the Rock and Roll and U.K. Music halls of fame, and as a co-creator of heavy metal.

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