A former Oasis member recently revealed that he once turned down the offer to join Black Sabbath.
Zak Starkey shared the update in light of the news that Ozzy Osbourne, the 76-year-old heavy metal godfather and iconic Black Sabbath frontman, passed away on Tuesday, July 22nd. In a statement, Osbourne’s family shared that the music legend was “surrounded by love” at the time of his passing.
Taking to Instagram, Starkey, who has played the drums for the likes of The Who, Mantra Of The Cosmos, Oasis and more, shared a screenshot of an email he received asking him to join the Birmingham metal group.
The email was sent by Ozzy’s wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, and was sent ahead of the band’s shows planned for summer 2013.
Sharon wrote, “Zak, Black Sabbath is headlining Download on June 10 and then Lollapalooza in August. The guys need a drummer for their album, which will be recorded in September with Rick Rubin producing. We would probably need you for 2-3 weeks for the album. Also, they need a drummer to play at Lollapalooza which is on August 3 in Chicago.”
She then joked at the end.
Starkey – who is also the son of Beatles legend Ringo Starr – would ultimately turn down the offer, as he had prior commitments with The Who. This involved performing with them at the closing ceremony for the 2012 Summer Olympics, joining them for their ‘Concert For Sandy Relief’ charity show, and embarking on their ‘Quadrophenia and More’ tour, which spanned across 2012 and 2013.
He would eventually have to take a step back from the 2013 touring commitments due to developing tendonitis, but rejoined Roger Daltrey and co. for their 2014 tour.
Starkey said, “Ozzy will always be one of the greatest, natural, brilliant singers of all time. I send much love and strength to his family at this sad sad time. If u aren’t familiar with the ‘Never Say Die’ record – get into it – it’s so far out.”
Following Starkey turning down the offer, Sabbath chose Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave drummer Brad Wilk to join them in the studio – creating what would be their ‘13’ album, shared in 2013. They also selected Tommy Clufetos to join them on that tour.
