An Open Letter From Garry Sharpe-Young

December 6, 2002

[I received this letter from Garry just hours after publishing my review of his book, OZZY OSBOURNE: THE STORY OF THE OZZY OSBOURNE BAND [2002 Cherry Red Books, U.K.] on my site.  He addressed some of my criticisms and provided us with some very enlightening details on what he countered in getting the book to press.  Thank you so much to Garry for being so generous with his words here and for allowing me to share this with the visitors of sabbathlive.com.]

-Rob Dwyer 12/6/2002

Many thanks Robert,

I could share these details with your website readers:

I agree with you about the two biggest holes in the book - Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde. Jake agreed to be interviewed on 3 or 4 occasions then just disappeared. That was very disappointing and frustrating. However, I was warned about Jake's 'unpredictability'. Hopefully he will re-surface soon because, quite frankly, he is one of the very few guitarists who has left me in total awe. (And God knows Rock n' Roll needs great guitarists right now!)

It would have been great to speak to Zakk but present band members were strictly off limits and told not to talk to me. Shame, but there you go. The book would have been quite a bit longer too if two other musicians had not pulled their texts after some very lengthy interviews had been conducted. Basically, they were 'advised' that it might reflect badly upon them if they did co-operate. I accepted their wishes and pulled quite a few chapters worth of material. The only people poorer for this are Ozzy fans because there was a good degree of historical detail there.

No, I didn't dwell on Black Sabbath primarily because it was never intended to be a Black Sabbath book. I'm writing that now, well at 'least' 1980 onwards. The period I find most fascinating. The Necromandus story was included as a nice little exclusive sequeway into the proto- Blizzard of Ozz.

I did receive a 'cease and desist' order from Ozzy's lawyers Grubman Indursky & Schindler that made all kinds of nonsensical and lurid claims. It was not the only attempt to get the book stopped either. We had a two sets of lawyers go through the book with a fine toothcomb and it came up with a complete bill of health. Out of the entire text a question mark was raised by the legal team over just four words that Sharon allegedly said to Bernie Torme in regard to her brother David. Certainly a lot tamer than what you can see on the TV show but I let it go. Those four words were removed. 

Everything in the book is truthful and, like yourself, I had a keen ambition to finally see a decent, well presented and factual history of Ozzy's post Sabbath career. (A catalyst to this entire project was reading a Black Sabbath "biography" that claimed Dio was ex-Deep Purple and David Donato had performed gigs with Sabbath pre-Gillan! If Sabbath fans were being offered up that kind of tripe something had to be done!)

As I say in the forward, writing a book about drink, drugs, bats, doves, ants, cats, etc, etc would have given me a much easier task. That, as I am glad you point out, is not what this book is about. As an Ozzy fan I edited interview texts thoroughly. In the main I chose not to use anything negative and deliberately excluded business and personal details. I spoke with the publishers about this and we were in agreement not to pander to the 'cash in' stampede. One interview subject I in fact chose not to use at all because so much of what was said was so personal in nature.

I would like to point out at this juncture that three people I did speak to who are currently engaged in legal disputes with the Osbournes were exceptionally kind and respectful in their observations about Ozzy and Sharon. True gentlemen. My communications with all the Ozzy band members and associates I credit in the book were an absolute pleasure.
It is no cash in. In fact, I finished it just as the TV series was announced. There is a lot of material I was given that I could have used but didn't. A lot of wild stuff not in the public domain. Using it would have made selling this book much, much easier as, it seems, sensationalism rules. I really didn't think Ozzy fans wanted to hear it. Ozzy is an intelligent man and to parade his dirty laundry for one and all would be disrespectful. I've been at this a long time now, I've been on the road with major acts, I've lived with rock stars, I've shoved my fingers down a celeb's throat to stop them choking on their own vomit. It's just...boring. Let's talk about the music!

The Black Sabbath book is going great guns. Reaction to the Ozzy book has been almost universally positive and has given rise to quite a few further major projects to be tackled at a later date. Many, many thanks for your valued opinion.

Garry Sharpe-Young