Bob Daisley

36
Bob Daisley bigraphy, stories - Australian rock bass guitarist

Bob Daisley : biography

13 February 1950 –

Robert John "Bob" Daisley (born 13 February 1950) is an Australian musician, bassist and lyricist who has performed in genres of rock, blues, R&B, hard rock and metal.

Other contributions

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Daisley has contributed to a wealth of recordings as bassist, lyricist and producer, including albums by Yngwie Malmsteen, Takara, Bill Ward and Jeff Watson of Night Ranger. Shortly after, Daisley and Watson teamed up once again and formed Mother’s Army along with vocalist Joe Lynn Turner and drummer Carmine Appice. In 2003, following his second and unsuccessful suit against Ozzy Osbourne, he teamed up with Lee Kerslake, Steve Morse of Deep Purple and Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes to record an album under the name Living Loud. Six of the album’s eleven tracks were covers from Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman. Don Airey also played keyboards on the Living Loud album. On 7 February 2003 Daisley recorded a live show at The Basement in Sydney with Australian blues band The Hoochie Coochie Men, for a live DVD and CD release. Also featured were former Deep Purple organist Jon Lord and Jimmy Barnes. In 2007, The Hoochie Coochie Men released the studio album Danger: White Men Dancing, also featuring Jon Lord.

Uriah Heep

After leaving Osbourne’s band the first time, Daisley joined the reformed Uriah Heep in 1982 alongside Kerslake and would remain with them until the following year, recording two albums, Abominog and Head First, both of which helped to rekindle some interest in the band.

Gary Moore

During his on-again, off-again relationship with Osbourne, Daisley also recorded many albums with Gary Moore and toured extensively with him.

In 1987 he was approached by producer Jeff Glixman to play on the Black Sabbath album The Eternal Idol as the band’s actual bass player Dave Spitz "wasn’t working out". However, Spitz was still credited on the final release along with Daisley. Daisley was offered the bassist spot in Black Sabbath but turned it down due to his commitment to Moore. He continued to work with Gary Moore until Gary’s untimely death in 2011.

Ozzy Osbourne

In October 1979, Daisley met Ozzy Osbourne at a venue called the Music Machine in Camden Town, and Osbourne soon suggested they form a band with former Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads, who Osbourne had recently met in Los Angeles. The trio later hired drummer Lee Kerslake and settled on the band name The Blizzard of Ozz, though a record company decision later billed the act simply as "Ozzy Osbourne".

Daisley contributed bass and backing vocals as well as songwriting and co-production on the group’s first album, Blizzard Of Ozz, and wrote much of the material on the follow-up album Diary of a Madman but both he and drummer Lee Kerslake were fired before the album was released. Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge appeared in their place in the artwork and credits of that album. Daisley and Kerslake successfully sued Jet Records and Don Arden in 1986 for performance royalties and to have their performance credits reinstated on both those recordings. Litigation with regards to these albums continued in 1998 when Daisley and Kerslake sued the Osbournes (who unknown to Daisley and Kerslake had purchased the early albums’ publishing rights) for unpaid performance royalties and accreditation. However, the Osbourne management responded to this by deleting the original recordings and re-issuing new CD versions with the bass and drum tracks re-recorded by Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin in 2002. In 2003, Daisley and Kerslake’s lawsuit was dismissed by the United States District Court in Los Angeles. This dismissal was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Daisley would continue to write and record for Ozzy throughout the 1980s and into the ’90s, playing on and writing all the lyrics for Bark at the Moon, No Rest for the Wicked and The Ultimate Sin (for which he was also originally uncredited) in 1986. Daisley maintained his working relationship with Osbourne up until 1991’s No More Tears album, which featured his bass playing on all tracks despite the presence of Mike Inez (who later joined Alice in Chains) in the album’s promotional videos.