Bob Daisley

Bob Daisley is the bassist and lyricist of the line-up that recorded Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981), and his part in those records goes far beyond the instrument. Born in Sydney, Australia, in 1950, he came to Ozzy Osbourne's band having passed through Chicken Shack, Widowmaker and Rainbow, where he recorded Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978). What is least known about him is what matters most: the lyrics of Ozzy's first two solo albums are his. "Crazy Train", "Mr. Crowley", "Suicide Solution", "Over the Mountain", "Flying High Again" — the words that defined Osbourne's public persona came from the Australian bassist's pen. His bass playing, in turn, is melodically active, with lines that move against the guitar rather than follow it, an inheritance from 1970s British hard rock. He went on collaborating intermittently through the 1980s and 1990s, on Bark at the Moon (1983), No Rest for the Wicked (1988) and No More Tears (1991). The relationship, however, was marked by a long dispute over credits and royalties: in 2002 the bass and drum tracks he and Lee Kerslake had recorded on the first two albums were erased and re-recorded by other musicians for the reissues, an episode that became one of the most contested in rock history. The original recordings were only restored on the 2011 reissues.