Randy Rhoads

Randy Rhoads was the guitarist on Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albums, and in little more than two years of work he rewrote what was expected of a heavy metal guitarist. Born in Santa Monica, California, in 1956, he grew up inside the music school his mother ran, and that grounding is in everything he recorded. Before Ozzy he co-founded Quiet Riot in Los Angeles. He was invited in 1979 to the band that would record Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981), and there he did something nobody in the genre was doing with that ease: he applied classical structure to heavy rock. His solos develop themes rather than display speed, his harmonies come from art music, and the riff of "Crazy Train" and the architecture of "Mr. Crowley" are still studied by anyone learning the instrument. He also recorded "Dee", a short classical guitar piece dedicated to his mother — the most explicit signature of that double origin. Even on world tours he sought out classical guitar teachers in the cities he passed through. He died on 19 March 1982, aged 25, when a small plane flown by a member of the tour crew buzzed the band's bus, clipped the vehicle and crashed, in Florida. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. His influence is out of all proportion to the size of the work: two studio albums, and an entire lineage of guitarists.