OZZY OSBOURNE Treated At Mental Hospital On Diary Of A Madman Tour
June 14, 2004, 20 years ago
Veteran bassist Rudy Sarzo recently informed Electricbasement.com readers of OZZY OSBOURNE's stay in a mental hospital during the Diary Of A Madman tour, almost leaving the touring band without a frontman,
"Few people know this, but he was treated at St. John's (hospital) outside London. He had a nervous breakdown. It was during our European tour with Saxon. We were rehearsing - Tommy (Aldridge), Don Airey, Randy (Rhoads) and myself. We were in England for the Diary Of AMadman tour, and our singer was in a mental institution . We'd go visit him with Sharon. She was a major instigator and would call us up: 'Come on, let's visit Ozzy!'"
"We'd visit him, and this hospital was like something out of The Elephant Man. There's Ozzy in one room with a iron headboard above his bed with a little curtain for him to change and a piss bucket and pitcher of water.
But Sarzo explains that he had confidence something would work out, even if the Ozzman was kept locked away for a bit, "We always knew Sharon (Osbourne, manager) would pull something off even if she had to pull on some costume and dress like Ozzy. The show must go on."
The entire interview can be found here.
