Djanggo Reinhardt biography

Jean "Django" Reinhardt^[1][2] (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953) was a Belgian Gypsy jazz guitarist.

One of the first prominent European jazz musicians, Reinhardt remains one of the most renowned jazz guitarists due to his innovative and distinctive playing. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli he cofounded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, described by critic Thom Jurek^[3] as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz." Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become jazz standards, including "My Sweet", "Minor Swing", "Tears", "Belleville", "Djangology" and "Nuages" (French for "Clouds").

Biography

Born in Liberchies, Pont-à-Celles, Belgium, Reinhardt's Gypsy nickname "Django" was Romani for "I awake."^[4] He spent most of his youth in gypsy encampments close to Paris, playing banjo, guitar and violin from an early age, and professionally at Bal-musette halls in Paris. He started first on the violin and eventually moved on to a banjo-guitar that had been given to him and his first known recordings (in 1928) were of him playing the banjo.

Django Reinhardt as a boy

At the age of 18, Reinhardt was injured in a fire that ravaged the caravan he shared with Florine "Bella" Mayer, his first wife.^[5] They were very poor, and to supplement their income Bella made imitation flowers out of celluloid and paper. Consequently, their home was full of this highly flammable material. Returning from a performance late one night, Django apparently knocked over a candle on his way to bed. While his family and neighbors were quick to pull him to safety, he received first- and second-degree burns over half his body. His right leg was paralyzed and the third and fourth fingers of his left hand were badly burnt. Doctors believed that he would never play guitar again and intended to amputate one of his legs.^[6] Reinhardt refused to have the surgery and left the hospital after a short time; he was able to walk within a year with the aid of a cane.

His brother Joseph Reinhardt, an accomplished guitarist himself, bought Django a new guitar. With painful rehabilitation and practice Django relearned his craft in a completely new way, even as his third and fourth fingers remained partially paralyzed. Hence, he played all of his guitar solos with only two fingers, and managed to use the two injured digits only for chord work.

Career

In 1934, Reinhardt and Parisian violinist Stéphane Grappelli formed the "Quintette du Hot Club de France" with Reinhardt's brother Joseph and Roger Chaput on guitar, and Louis Vola on bass.^[7] Occasionally Chaput was replaced by Reinhardt's best friend and fellow Gypsy Pierre "Baro" Ferret. The vocalist Freddie Taylor participated in a few songs, such as "Georgia On My Mind" and "Nagasaki". Jean Sablon was the first singer to record with him more than thirty songs from 1933. They also used their guitars for percussive sounds, as they had no true percussion section. The Quintet du Hot Club de France was one of the few well-known jazz ensembles composed only of string instruments.

In Paris on March 14, 1933 Rheinhart recorded 2 takes each of "Parce que je vous aime" and "Si, j'aime Suzy", vocal numbers with lots of guitar fills and great guitar support, using 3 guitarists along with an accordion lead, violin, and bass.[1] In August of the following year recordings were also made with more than one guitar (Joseph Reinhardt, Roger Chaput, and Django), including the first recording by the Quintet.[2] In both years, it should be noted, the great majority of recordings featured a wide variety of horns, often in multiples, piano, etc.[3][4]

Reinhardt later formed bands with more conventional instrumentations as with clarinet or saxophone, piano, bass and drums. He produced numerous recordings at this time with the quintet. But he played and recorded also with many American Jazz legends such as Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Rex Stewart (who later stayed in Paris), and a jam-session with jazz legend Louis Armstrong. Reinhardt could neither read nor write music, and was barely literate. Stéphane took the band's downtime to teach him.

WWII

When World War II broke out, the original quintet was on tour in the United Kingdom. Reinhardt returned to Paris at once^[8], leaving his wife behind. Grappelli remained in the United Kingdom for the duration of the war. Reinhardt reformed the quintet, with Hubert Rostaing on clarinet replacing Grappelli's violin. In 1943, Django married Sophie Ziegler in Salbris, with whom he had a son, Babik Reinhardt, who became a respected guitarist in his own right.

Reinhardt survived World War II unscathed, unlike the many Gypsies who perished in the porajmos, the Nazi regime's systematic murder of several hundred thousand European Gypsies, quite a few of whom were sent to death camps. He was especially fortunate because the Nazi regime did not allow jazz to be performed and recorded. He apparently enjoyed the protection of the Luftwaffe officer Dietrich Schulz-Köhn, nicknamed "Doktor Jazz", who deeply admired his music.

Post war

After the war, Reinhardt rejoined Grappelli in the UK, and then went on in fall 1946 to tour the United States as a special guest soloist with Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, playing two nights at Carnegie Hall, with many notable musicians and composers such as Maury Deutsch. Despite Reinhardt's great pride in touring with Ellington (one of his two letters to Grappelli relates this excitement), he wasn't really integrated into the band, playing only a few tunes at the end of the show, with no special arrangements written personally for him. He was used to his brother, Joseph, carrying around his guitar for him and tuning it. Allegedly, Reinhardt was given an untuned guitar to play with (discovered after strumming a chord) and it took him five whole minutes to tune it. Also, he was used to playing a Selmer Modèle Jazz, the guitar he made famous, but he was required to play a new amplified model. After "going electric", the results were not as much liked by fans.^{[citation needed]} He returned to France with broken dreams, but continued to play and make many recordings.

Django Reinhardt was among the first people in France to appreciate and understand the music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie whom he sought when he arrived in New York. Unfortunately they were all on tour.

After returning to France, Django spent the remainder of his days re-immersed in gypsy life, having found it difficult to adjust to the modern world. He would sometimes show up for concerts without a guitar or amp, or wander off to the park or beach, and on a few occasions he refused even to get out of bed. Reinhardt was known by his band, fans, and managers to be extremely unpredictable. He would often skip sold-out concerts to simply "walk to the beach" or "smell the dew". However, he did continue to compose and is still regarded as one of the most advanced jazz guitarists to ever play the instrument.

In 1948, Reinhardt recruited a few Italian jazz players (on bass, piano, and snare drum) and recorded one of his most acclaimed contributions, "Djangology", once again with Stephane Grappelli on violin. Although his experience in the U.S. left him influenced greatly by American jazz, making him a different player from the man Grappelli had known, on this recording Reinhardt switched back to his old roots, once again playing the Acoustic Selmer-Maccaferri. The recording was recently discovered by jazz enthusiasts and is now available in the U.S. and Europe. Reinhardt and other guitarists of the Quintette du Hot Club de France used Selmer acoustic guitars.

In 1951, he retired to Samois-sur-Seine, France, near Fontainebleau. He lived there for two years until 16 May 1953, when, while returning from the Avon train station, he collapsed outside his house from a brain hemorrhage. It took a full day for a doctor to arrive and Django was declared dead on arrival at the hospital in Fontainebleau.

Influence

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Many musicians have expressed admiration for Reinhardt (whose main influence was Eddie Lang), including guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, classical guitarist Julian Bream; country artist Chet Atkins, who placed Reinhardt #1 on a list of the ten most influential guitarists of the 20th century (he placed himself fifth); Latin rocker Carlos Santana; blues legend B.B. King; the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia; Phish's Trey Anastasio; Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi; Jimi Hendrix; The Libertines' Carlos Barat, Synyster Gates; Shawn Lane; Stevie Ray Vaughan; Derek Trucks; Mark Knopfler; Les Paul; Joe Pass; Peter Frampton; Denny Laine; Jeff Beck; Jon Larsen; Steve Howe; Charlie Christian; George Benson; Wes Montgomery; Martin Taylor; Tchavolo Schmitt; Stochelo Rosenberg; Biréli Lagrène; John Jorgenson; Michael Angelo Batio; Richard Thompson; Robert Fripp; and Jeff Martin. Willie Nelson wore a Django Reinhardt T-shirt on tour in Europe in 2002, stating in an interview that he admired Django's music and ability. The British guitarist Diz Disley plays in a style based on Reinhardt's technique and he collaborated on numerous projects with Stéphane Grappelli.

Musicians have paid tribute to Reinhardt in many other ways, such as by invoking his name in their own work or personal life. Jimi Hendrix is said to have named one of his bands the Band of Gypsys because of Django's music. Jazz trio The Lost Fingers from Quebec, Canada named themselves after Reinhardt's injured fingers, and play music that is strongly influenced by his style.

A number of musicians named their sons Django in reference to Reinhardt, including David Crosby, former Slade singer Noddy Holder, Jerry Jeff Walker, Richard Durrant, and also actors Nana Visitor & Alexander Siddig and Raphael Sbarge. Jazz musician Django Bates and singer-songwriter Django Haskins were named after him.

Songs written in Reinhardt's honor include "Django," composed by John Lewis, which has become a jazz standard performed by musicians such as Miles Davis. The Modern Jazz Quartet titled one of their albums Django in honor of him. The Allman Brothers Band song Jessica was written by Dickey Betts in tribute to Reinhardt — he wanted to write a song that could be played using only two fingers. This aspect of the artist's work also motivated Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who was inspired by Reinhardt to keep playing guitar after a factory accident that cost him two fingertips. Composer Jon Larsen has composed several crossover concerts featuring Django inspired music together with symphonic arrangements, most famous is "White Night Stories" (2002) and "Vertavo" (1996).

Despite not being Belge, in 2005, Django Reinhardt ended on the 66th place in the election of The Greatest Belgian (De Grootste Belg) in Flanders and on the 76th place in the Walloon version of the same competition Le plus grand Belge.

The record label Hot Club Records have, since 1982, released more than 350 records, many with Django-influenced music.

Reinhardt in popular culture

Reinhardt has been portrayed in several films, such as in the opening sequence of the 2003 animated film Les Triplettes de Belleville. The third and fourth fingers of the cartoon Reinhardt are considerably smaller than the fingers used to play the guitar. Reinhardt's legacy dominates in Woody Allen's 1999 Sweet and Lowdown. This spoof biopic focuses on fictional American guitarist Emmet Ray's obsession with Reinhardt, with soundtrack featuring Howard Alden. He is also portrayed by guitarist John Jorgenson in the movie Head in the Clouds. In the classic Italian western Django, the titular hero is presumably named after Reinhardt. In the climax of the movie, his hands are smashed by his enemies and he is forced to fire a gun with his wounded hands. Reinhardt is also the idol of the character Arvid in the movie Swing Kids, where the character's left hand is smashed by a member of the Hitler Jugend (HJ), but is inspired to continue by Reinhardt's example.

Reinhardt's music has been used in the soundtrack of many films, including the oracle scene in The Matrix; Rhythm Futur (95 minute mark) and I Can't Give You Anything But Love (41 minute mark) in The Aviator; Nuages in Gattaca; the score for Louis Malle's 1974 movie, Lacombe Lucien;the background for the Steve Martin movie L.A. Story; the background for a number of Woody Allen movies, including Stardust Memories, where Woody's character plays a Django record; Honeysuckle Rose in the background of the Central Park carriage ride scene in Kate and Leopold; during the Juilliard audition in the movie Daltry Calhoun; Minor Swing and Blues Clair in Metroland for which Mark Knopfler wrote the score; his rendition of Brazil can be heard on the "Something's Gotta Give" soundtrack; and Minor Swing in the scene in the painter's house in the Italian film "I Cento Passi", and as played by Johnny Depp in the river party scene in Lasse Hallström's Chocolat. Reinhardt's work also figures heavily into B. Monkey and The Pallbearer. Reinhardt's music has also been featured in the soundtracks of several video games, such as the 2002 game Mafia and the 2007 game BioShock. He was also mentioned in Swing Kids.

Reinhardt has been a subject in several works of fiction. Harlan Ellison's short story "Django" is a fantasia about a guitarist, with similarities to Reinhardt. Author William Kotzwinkle's 1989 collection, The Hot Jazz Trio stars Reinhardt in a surrealistic fantasy also featuring Jean Cocteau. An extended discussion of Reinhardt takes place among several characters in the novel From Here to Eternity by James Jones. The character Andre Custine has a double bass that had been played by Reinhardt in the novel Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds.

Reinhardt has been the subject of several songs, most notably "Django", a melancholy gypsy-flavored piece that jazz pianist John Lewis (pianist) of the Modern Jazz Quartet wrote in honor of his memory (1954); numerous versions of the song have been recorded, including one on the 1973 Lindsey Buckingham / Stevie Nicks self-titled debut album; it also appears on Joe Bonamassa's 2006 LP "You & Me". The lyrics of the Norwegian song Tanta til Beate by Lillebjørn Nilsen mentions Django several times.

Discography

• 1945 Paris 1945
• 1947 Ellingtonia - with the Rex Stewart Band - Dial 215
• 1949 Djangology
• 1951 Django Reinhardt and the Hot Club Quintet
• 1951 At Club St. Germain
• 1953 Django Reinhardt et Ses Rythmes
• 1954 The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt
• 1955 Django's Guitar
• 1959 Django Reinhardt and His Rhythm
• 1980 Routes to Django Reinhardt
• 1996 Imagine
• 2001 All Star Sessions
• 2001 Jazz in Paris: Swing 39
• 2002 Djangology (remastered) (recorded in 1948, discovered, remastered and released by Bluebird Records)
• 2003 Jazz in Paris: Nuages
• 2003 Jazz in Paris: Nuits de Saint-Germain des-Prés
• 2004 Le Génie Vagabond
• 2008 Django on the Radio (radio broadcasts, 1945 - 1953)

• At least eight compilations have also been released.

See also

• Gypsy Jazz
• List of Belgian bands and artists
• List of Belgian musicians and singers
• Golden Django
• Django Reinhardt Jazz Festival
• Jazz manouche
• List of Roma, Sinti and Mixed People
• Oscar Alemán
• Sinti
• Vernon Story
• List of compositions by Django Reinhardt
• Jean Sablon

Dimebag Darrel biography

Darrell Lance Abbott, also known as "Diamond" Darrell, "Dimebag" Darrell, or simply "Dime" (August 20, 1966 – December 8, 2004) was an American guitarist. Best known as a founding member of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, he also performed in the country music band Rebel Meets Rebel. Abbott frequently appeared in guitar magazines and in readers' polls, where he was often included in the top ten metal guitarist spots. In addition, he wrote a long-running Guitar World magazine column, which has been compiled in the book Riffer Madness. Remembered for his amiable nature and rapport with fans, critic Greg Prato ^[1] describes Abbott as "one of the most influential stylists in modern metal." On December 8, 2004, Abbott was murdered onstage during a Damageplan performance at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio.

Biography

Early years

He was born to Jerry Abbott, a country musician and producer. He took up guitar when he was in his early teens, winning a series of local guitar competitions, where in one he was awarded his first Dean (later known as the ML styled guitar.) Coincidentally, his father had bought him a cherryburst finish Dean (ML) standard the morning before the competition, so he only had a few hours of playing time on it. These and another contest prize, his first Randall Amplifier, are the two staples of his style and sound. As a child, Abbott became a member of the KISS fan club (the KISS Army). He enlisted with his neighbour and later girlfriend Rita Haney, and the first rock concert they attended was a KISS performance. Abbott has stated that his main influences were Ace Frehley of Kiss and Black Sabbath^[2].

Pantera and Damageplan

Abbott formed Pantera in 1981 with his brother Vinnie Paul on drums. The band began in a glam metal style, but by the late '80s showed a greater influence from thrash metal acts such as Exodus, Megadeth, Exhorder and Metallica, as well as traditional metal bands such as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. Pantera subsequently became a key formulator of the post-thrash subgenre of "groove" metal. It would not be until nine years after forming that Pantera saw its first piece of commercial success in its 1990 major label debut, Cowboys from Hell. Pantera's "groove" style came to fruition in its breakthrough album Vulgar Display of Power, released on February 25, 1992, which saw the replacement of the power metal falsetto vocals with a hardcore-influenced shouted delivery and heavier guitar sound. In 1992, Abbott dropped the nickname "Diamond Darrell" and assumed the nickname "Dimebag Darrell". Pantera began to suffer from mounting tensions between band members in the mid-1990s, largely due to Phil Anselmo's rampant drug abuse; in 2003, the group broke up^[3]. Anselmo left the band for other projects, such as Superjoint Ritual and Down.

After a year, brothers Vinnie and "Dimebag" formed Damageplan, a Heavy metal band which also used the Pantera-style groove metal sound. The Abbott brothers recruited former Halford guitarist Pat Lachman on vocals, and Bob Zilla on bass. Damageplan released its debut album New Found Power in the United States on February 10, 2004, which debuted at number 38 on the Billboard 200, selling 44,676 copies in its first week. When writing music for the new group, "Dimebag" said that "we wanted to stretch out and expand our capabilities to their fullest."^[4]

Other projects

Shortly before singer Phil Anselmo joined Pantera, Abbott was invited to join Dave Mustaine's thrash band Megadeth. Abbott was willing to join, but on the condition that Mustaine also hired his brother Vinnie on drums. As Mustaine had already hired drummer Nick Menza, Abbott stayed with Pantera. In 1992 Pantera teamed up with Rob Halford (of Judas Priest) for a track called 'Light Comes Out of Black'. Abbott played all the guitar parts, Rex Brown played bass, Vinnie Paul played drums, Rob Halford sang lead vocals while Philip Anselmo sang backing vocals. This song was released on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack on July 28th, 1992. In 1996 Abbott contributed the Ace Frehley song 'Fractured Mirror' to the Ace tribute album Spacewalk: A Salute To Ace Frehley. Then in 1997 a new Ace Frehley tribute album called Return Of The Comet: A Tribute To Ace Frehley was released. The two Abbott brothers covered Ace's song 'Snowblind' on track 7. On and off between 1996 and the formation of Damageplan, the Abbott brothers and Pantera bassist Rex Brown teamed up with country singer David Allan Coe for a project called Rebel Meets Rebel in 2000. The album was released May 2, 2006 on Vinnie's "Big Vin Records" label.

Abbott played guest guitar solos on several Anthrax songs from their John Bush era: "King Size" & "Riding Shotgun" from Stomp 442, "Inside Out" & "Born Again Idiot" from Volume 8: The Threat Is Real, "Strap It On" and "Cadillac Rock Box" (with a voice intro from Dimebag as well) from We've Come for You All. In a recent interview Anthrax bassist Frank Bello said "Darrell was basically the sixth member of Anthrax". Abbott also performed a solo on the titular track from King Diamond's Voodoo album. A sample from a guitar solo by Abbott was used in the Nickelback song "Side of a Bullet" and also played guitar on Nickelback's cover of Elton John's Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting along with Kid Rock. In 1999, Pantera recorded a theme tune for their favourite ice hockey team, The Dallas Stars, called 'Punk-Off'. The song was eventually released in 2003 on the album 'Dallas Stars: Greatest Hits'. In 2000 Abbott played the guitar solo on Believer for the new Randy Rhoads Tribute album (not the Ozzy Osbourne album). Vocals were by Sebastian Bach, Rhythm Guitars were by Kane Roberts, Drums were by Michael Cartellone and the Bass was by Mike Bringardello. This was the only track that Abbott contributed to on this album.

Shortly before Abbott's death, he went into the studio with a band named Premenishen to do a guest solo on a track titled "Eyes of the South." ^[5] He was also confirmed as one of the original guitar player choices for Liquid Tension Experiment by Mike Portnoy.^[6] Abbott's musical roots were in Country Western music; he supported the local music scene in Dallas and would sometimes record with local musicians. He played in a country band called Rebel Meets Rebel with country performer David Allan Coe. Three of Abbott's solos from Pantera songs ranked among Guitar World magazine's top 100 of all-time: "Walk" (#57), "Cemetery Gates" (#35), and "Floods" (#15).^[7] In December 2006 a rare track of one of his collaborations was discovered. Abbott sat in on a recording session with local Dallas musician "Throbbin Donnie" Rodd and recorded "Country Western Transvestite Whore". It features Dimebag on lead guitar and lead vocals.^[8]Abbott and his brother Vinnie Paul along with Rex (during the Pantera Era) and Bob Zilla (Damageplan Era) performed at their New Years party every year under the name "Gasoline", which was originally and previously a project involving Dimebag and Vinnie plus Thurber T. Mingus of Pumpjack. Stroker of Pumpjack also played with Gasoline on several occasions. Dimebag, Vinnie and Rex also recorded a cover of the ZZ Top song "Heard It on the X" under the band name "Tres Diablos" for ECW wrestling's "Extreme Music" soundtrack.

Death

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Black ribbon sticker that appeared on vehicles in honor of Dimebag Darrell.

On December 8, 2004, while performing with Damageplan at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, Abbott was shot onstage by a mentally ill former US Marine named Nathan Gale. Abbott was shot three times in the head, killing him instantly. Damageplan's drum technician, John "Kat" Brooks, and tour manager, Chris Paluska, were injured. Gale fired a total of fifteen shots, taking the time to reload once, and remaining silent throughout the shooting.

Brooks was scuffling with Gale onstage but was overpowered and taken hostage in a headlock position. Brooks was shot several times (once in the right hand, his right leg, and his right side) while attempting to get the gun away from Gale. Five officers came in the front entrance led by officer Rick Crum, and moved toward the stage. Officer James D. Niggemeyer came in through the back door, behind the stage. Gale only saw the officers in front of the stage; he never saw Officer Niggemeyer. When the hostage moved his head, Officer Niggemeyer killed Gale by shooting him in the face with a police-issued Remington 870 shotgun. Gale was found to have 35 rounds of ammunition remaining. Nurse and audience member Mindy Reece, 28, went to the aid of Abbott. She and another fan administered CPR until paramedics arrived, but were unable to save him.

In May 2005, Officer Niggemeyer testified before the Franklin County grand jury, which is routine procedure in Franklin County after a police shooting. The grand jury did not indict Niggemeyer, finding that his actions were justified. Niggemeyer received a commendation from the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission for his outstanding police work in time of crisis as well as The National Rifle Association award as 2005 Law Enforcement Officer of the Year. The five other officers that were first on the scene received Ohio distinguished law enforcement medals for their efforts. In 2006 James Niggemeyer penned the foreword to A Vulgar Display Of Power: Courage and Carnage at the Alrosa Villa.

Abbott's burial stone

Early theories of motive suggested that Gale may have turned to violence in response to the breakup of Pantera, or the public dispute between Abbott and Pantera singer Phil Anselmo, but these were later ruled out by investigators. ^[9] Another theory was that Gale believed Abbott had stolen a song Gale wrote.^[10] In the A Vulgar Display Of Power book, several of Gale's personal writings, given to the author by Gale's mother, suggest that the gunman was not angry about Pantera's breakup or about a belief that Pantera had "stolen songs"; instead, the documents suggest that Gale's paranoid schizophrenia caused delusions that the band could read his mind, and that they were "stealing" his thoughts and laughing at him.

Tributes

Hellyeah's song "Thank You" is dedicated to Dimebag. Avenged Sevenfold's song 'Betrayed', Nickelback's 'Side of a Bullet' (featuring a solo played by Abbott taken from a demo tape), Cross Canadian Ragweed's 'Dimebag', Black Label Society's 'In This River', Kiuas' 'Bleeding Strings', Type O Negative's 'Halloween in Heaven', Machine Head's 'Aesthetics of Hate' were about or dedicated to Dimebag. Additionally, Shinedown and Seether have both dedicated their respective songs Simple Man and Fine Again to Abbott in concert while Seether has also included the intro, first verse and chorus of the Pantera hit Cowboys From Hell in place of the bridge of their song Because of Me. Trivium's album, The Crusade, says at the bottom of the final page, "Rest in peace Dimebag Darrell Abbott "(1966-2004)". In a Limp Bizkit song 'The Priest' in 2005 you hear in the lyrics "I see someone in rage killing Dimebag on stage, what the fuck is this...". Also, Buckethead recorded a song known as "Android of Notre Dame" which is also recognized as "Dimebag tribute song". Brian Head Welch performed "Letter to Dimebag" at 2006. Also on some occasions Fear Factory, Disturbed, Godsmack, and Avenged Sevenfold have played Pantera’s “Walk” as a tribute. Phil Anselmo's current band Down has also dedicated the song "Lifer" to Dime on their most recent tour.

At one show during Gigantour 2005, Dream Theater performed a cover of "Cemetery Gates" along with Russell Allen of Symphony X, Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, and Dave Mustaine of Megadeth as a tribute to Dimebag.

Magazine appearances

Abbott frequently appeared in guitar magazines, both in advertisements for equipment he endorsed and in readers' polls, where he was often included in the top ten metal guitarist spots. In addition, he wrote a long-running Guitar World magazine column, which has been compiled in the book Riffer Madness (ISBN 0-7692-9101-5). Total Guitar frequently featured him and wrote about him in the months leading up to his death. One year after his death, they also made a tribute issue. The January 2008 issue of Metal Hammer was also dedicated to him. In the March 2008 issue of Guitar World Abbott was featured on the cover story "Dimebag, The Untold Story," and interviews with his then-guitar tech's Grady Champion and Rita Haney, and Vinnie Paul Abbott. As well, he was voted into the Guitar World Hall of Fame.

Influences

Abbott once said in a Guitar World interview that if there was no Ace Frehley, there would have been no "Dimebag" Darrell - he even had a tattoo of the "KISS" guitarist on his chest (in an interview asking why he chose to become a guitar player Abbott said that when he was young his father asked him if he wanted a BMX bike or a guitar for his birthday and he chose the BMX but after listening to a Black Sabbath album for the first time he went to his father to try and trade the bike for the guitar)^[11]. Ace signed the tattoo in pen ink upon meeting him, at Dimebag's request, and then the autograph was painstakingly tattooed over soon after, so as never to be washed off.

Abbott was also an avid consumer of alcoholic beverages, as exemplified by his invention of a cocktail. The drink consists of one shot of "Crown Royal" whiskey, with a splash of just enough Coca-Cola to darken the whiskey's color known as the "Black Tooth Grin". ^[12]

In the late 1980s, around the time of Power Metal, Abbott often covered songs by guitarist Joe Satriani, such as "Crushing Day". He also incorporated elements of Satriani songs like "Echo" into his live solos as well. Abbott stated, in various interviews, that his riffs were largely influenced by Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. Tony also influenced Dimebag's tunings, which often went down to C# or lower. Pantera covered Black Sabbath songs "Planet Caravan", "Paranoid", "Hole In the Sky" and "Electric Funeral."

He also cited thrash giants Anthrax, Metallica and, despite a sometimes vicious feud, Megadeth as primary influences. He was also a great fan of Slayer and a good friend of Kerry King. Dimebag mentioned in an interview with Guitar World that the clean chord passages in the intro to Cemetery Gates were influenced by the clean chordal passages found in much of Ty Tabor's (King's X) playing.^{[citation needed]} As with Gibbons, Abbott frequently made use of pentatonic scales and slide guitar in both his leads and rhythms. Both guitarist employ blues scales, start / stop dynamics and pedal tones, as in Dimebag's southern style riff in "The Great Southern Trendkill", and the main riff to ZZ Top's "Tush". Randy Rhoads' style chord arpeggios can be heard in much of Dimebag's playing as well, noted examples being "Floods", "Shedding Skin", "The Sleep", and "This Love". He also stated that "Eddie Van Halen was heavy rock and roll, but Randy was heavy metal".^[13]

Eddie Van Halen, whom Abbott had recently befriended, placed his original black with yellow stripes guitar (commonly called "bumblebee") into the Kiss Kasket. Abbott had mentioned to Ed that he liked that color combination the best of Ed's guitars (this guitar appears on the back sleeve of Van Halen's second album "Van Halen II"), and Eddie was going to paint one that way for him. Darrell also credited Vito Rulez of Chauncy for convincing him to try Bill Lawrence pickups. According to an interview with Dino Cazares then of Fear Factory Abbott told him that during the recording of Reinventing the Steel he A/B'd his guitar tone with Dino's (incidentally during the making of Fear Factory's Demanufacture Cazares A/B'd his guitar tone against that of Vulgar Display of Power). Abbott co-designed a guitar with Dean just months before his death. Called the Razorback, it was a modified version of the ML. It is more pointed and has extra barbs on the wings. This design spawned variations, such as a 24-fret version, different paint jobs including a flamed maple top with natural finish, EMG pickups, and also helped with the design of the V-shaped version, the Razorback V (lacking the neck-pointing front wing).

Pete Willis of Def Leppard was also seen another major influence for Darrell. On his Guitar World magazine tribute issue, Abbott was quoted as saying, "Man, that first Leppard album really jams, and their original guitarist, Pete Willis, was a great player. I was inspired by him because I was a small young dude and he was a small young dude, too—and he was out there kickin’ ass. He made me want to get out there and play. Def Leppard used the two-guitar thing much more back then than they do now." ^[14]

Dean issued a tribute guitar to honor his death, featuring the tribute logo on the neck, a razor inlay on the 12th fret, and hand-painted "rusty-metal"-style graphics. The pickups include a Dimebucker at the Bridge and a standard "zebra" Dean pickup at the neck, the tremolo is a Floyd Rose double-locking, and the knobs are the Dimebag Traction knobs. They use all-black hardware, and almost all of them have 22 frets, a Floyd Rose tremolo, Seymour Duncan pickups (including the SH-13 Dimebucker), and set-neck construction. Abbott flipped the bridge pickup upside down, so the low-E string magnet was on the high-E string. This was because he wanted the sound not to be so shrill, similar to Jimi Hendrix, and it also meant the hotter coil of the humbucker was farther away from the bridge.

Discography and filmography

Main article: Dimebag Darrell discography and filmography

Abbott performed on Anthrax albums, including Stomp 442 (1995); Volume 8: The Threat Is Real (1998); the Inside Out EP (1998) and We've Come for You All (2003). With Damageplan, Abbott played on the Devastation Sampler (2003) and on the album New Found Power (2004). With Pantera, Abbott recorded a number of albums, EPs, singles, and videos, including Power Metal (1988); Cowboys from Hell (1990); Vulgar Display of Power (1992); and Hostile Moments (1994). He also recorded albums under his own name, including Country Western Transvestite Whore and Supercop Soundtrack (1996) and he recorded a country music album entitled Rebel Meets Rebel (2004).

Thank's to Wikipedia

Alexi Laiho biography

Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho (born 8 April 1979) is the lead guitarist from the bands Children of Bodom and Sinergy. He has also played with Thy Serpent and Impaled Nazarene on occasion.
Originating from the town of Espoo, in Finland, Alexi began his musical training at the age of five by learning the viola. However, influenced by the music his sister listened to (heavy metal music bands such as W.A.S.P., Poison and Stone), he ended up dropping the classical instrument at the age of 11, in favour of guitars. A taped live performance of Steve Vai's song "For the Love of God" (from the Passion and Warfare album) was especially influential in Alexi's decison to become a guitarist. He then began taking lessons at the Finn ...

Synyster Gates biography

Syn's Bio

Synyster Gates' bio

Synyster Gates: Lead Guitar
Birthday: July 7 1981
Eyes: Brown
Height: About 5'10/11
Fav Movie: Godfather 1 and 2
Random Facts: Synyster studied music at MIT [Music Institute Of Technology], He has a side project with The Rev called 'Pinkly Smooth'.

Synyster Gates (born Brian Elwin Haner, Jr. on July 7, 1981) in Huntington Beach, California), also known as Syn, is an American musician. He is currently the lead guitarist for Heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold.

Brian attended, and graduated from, the Musicians Institute in Hollywood as part of the GIT program, studying jazz guitar

. Up until that time he was primarily self taught by watching music videos and reading books, which is surprising because his father was/is a songwriter and guitar player, having played with Frank Zappa during his career. After six or so months of being there, he got a phone call from Jimmy (and the rest of the current line up of Avenged Sevenfold) asking him if he wanted to come and be their lead guitarist. Brian joined up with them rather than continuing his education and becoming a studio musician.

Gates joined Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) when he was 18 at the end of 1999, right before the recording of the band's first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. He was featured on their EP, "Warmness on the Soul," and on the reissue of their first album. He also plays piano for the band on songs such as "The Beast and the Harlot" and "Sidewinder," though a friend of the band, bassist Justin Sane, played the piano on Warmness on the Soul.

In the Avenged Sevenfold DVD "All Excess," to emphasize the seemingly random placing of names, Gates stated that his name was thought of on a drunken drive through the park with The Rev. His exact words were, "I am Synyster Gates, and I am awesome!"

Gates cites Django Reinhardt, Adam Aparicio, Dimebag Darrell, Slash, John Petrucci and Francis Canavan as his favorite guitarists and major influences. He has won numerous awards, including the "Young Shredder" award of the year in the Metal Hammer awards in 2006 and the "Guitarist of the Year" Award for Total Guitar Magazine in 2006. In June 2008 Guitar World magazine interviewed Syn, reader Shawn Butterfield asked "You're one hell of a guitarist. But who do you really look up to?" to which he responded "Definitely Slash! the Ozzy guitar dudes, Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom! Jimi Hendrix of course, Dimebag Darrell from Pantera, Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, a lot man!"

Synyster Gates was also a member of the "Goblin Metal" side-project Pinkly Smooth with The Rev and Justin Sane. Pinkly Smooth was disbanded because Gates and The Rev wished to focus full-time on Avenged Sevenfold, although when asked recently, they both revealed there is a new side project being planned, featuring the two playing older Pinkly Smooth tunes.

Gates has a younger brother Brent and a younger sister McKenna. His father, Brian Haner Sr., is a musician and comedian known as "Guitar Guy", and is currently on tour with Jeff Dunham.

Discography
With Pinkly Smooth

* Unfortunate Snort (2001)

With Avenged Sevenfold

* Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001)
* Waking The Fallen (2003)
* City of Evil (2005)
* Avenged Sevenfold (2007)
* Diamonds in the Rough (2008)

Equipment
Guitars
Syn is currently endorsed by Schecter Guitar Research, as is Zacky Vengeance.

* Syn uses his custom 'Synyster' models, which are a hybrid of a few custom shop models.
* A white C-1 FR with white Invader pickups.
o Syn also has a lot of variations of his Synyster models, eg. (all of the following are the Avenger/Synyster shape) an American flag, a German flag, a Rebel flag, black with red pin stripes, and white with gold pin stripes, which was released on September 2nd, 2008. The white with gold pimp stripes signature guitar is available and is limited in production to 100.

Most, if not all, of Syn's guitars are custom made. Syn uses Seymour Duncan SH-8 Custom Shop Invader pickups in his guitars and also a sustainiac neck pickup sustainer over his invader neck pickup. He uses Drop D tuning most of the time. He uses drop Db tuning for "Almost Easy" and "Scream" but for "Radiant Eclipse" he uses a Drop C tuning.

In the past Syn has used a Gibson Les Paul, a Parker Fly, B.C Rich Mockingbird and Ibanez RG Prestige.

When asked in Total Guitar magazine, he said that his first guitar was a 'Blood Red Squier Stratocaster'.

Amplifiers

* Bogner Uberschall (main)
* Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier Solo Head
* Marshall various low-watt combos

Speaker Cabinets

* Marshall 4x12" cab
* Bogner Uberkab 4x12" (main)
* Mesa/Boogie 4x12" Recto Cabinet Straight

Effects Units

* Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
* Boss CS-3 Compressor
* Visual Sound H20 Chorus/Echo
* Ibanez TS-9 Tube Screamer
* Frantone "The Sweet" Distortion
* Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive
* Boss BF-3 Flanger
* Boss PH-3 Phase Shifter
* Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
* Seymour Duncan SFX-01 Pickup Booster
* Voodoo Lab PEDAL POWER 2
* Voodoo Lab GCX Audio Switcher
* Jim Dunlop Crybaby From Hell Wah Pedal

Crybaby from Hell Dimebag Wah Pedal

Accessories

* Ernie Ball 'skinny top, heavy bottom' strings.
* Jim Dunlop Gator Grip 2.0mm picks in custom black with a "Deathbat" logo printed
* Voodoo Labs GCX Guitar Audio Switcher rack unit
* Voodoo Labs DMC Ground Control Polo pro
* Rebel Straps Skull Bottle Opener Strap
* Rebel Straps Skull Pick Box Strap
* White Get'm Get'm Sergeant Stripes Guitar Strap
* Black Schaller Strap Locks
* Red Schaller Strap Locks

Thank's to Wikipedia

Randy Rhoads Biography

Randall William Rhoads was born on December 6, 1956 at St. Johns Hospital in Santa Monica, California. With one brother (Doug) and one sister (Kathy), Randy was the youngest of three. When Randy was 17 months old his father, William Arthur Rhoads, a public school music teacher, left and all three children were raised by their mother, Delores Rhoads.

Randy started taking guitar lessons around the age of 6 or 7 at a music school in North Hollywood called Musonia, which was owned by his mother. His first guitar was a Gibson (acoustic) that belonged to Delores Rhoads father. Randy and his sister (Kathy) both began folk guitar lessons at the same time with Randy later taking piano lessons (at his mothers request) so that he could learn to read music. Randys piano lessons did not last very long. At the age of 12, Randy became interested in rock guitar. His mother, Delores, had an old semi-acoustic Harmony Rocket, that at that time was "almost larger than he was". For almost a year Randy took lessons from Scott Shelly, a guitar teacher at his mothers school. Scott Shelly eventually went to Randys mother explaining that he could not teach him anymore as Randy knew everything that he (Scott Shelly) knew. When Randy was about 14, he was in his first band,Violet Fox, named after his mothers middle name, Violet. With Randy playing rhythm guitar and his brother Doug playing drums, Violet Fox were together about 4 to 5 months. Randy was in various other bands, such as "The Katzenjammer Kids" and "Mildred Pierce", playing parties in the Burbank area before he formed Quiet Riot in 1976 with longtime friend and bassist Kelly Garni. Randy Rhoads and Kelly Garni (whom Randy taught to play bass guitar) met Kevin DuBrow through a mutual friend from Hollywood. How they actually got together is a different story with many variations:

A.) The two contacted Kevin DuBrow, went to his house to "audition" him but originally werent interested in having him as a vocalist. Kevin kept calling Randy and Kelly until they eventually decided to try him out as a vocalist.

B.) Randy and Kelly Garni auditioned Kevin DuBrow in Delores Rhoads kitchen. Kevin sang for them, then said something to the point of, "well if you dont like me just say so and Ill leave." Randy and Kelly decided to work with him though they would have to "work some things out".

C.) Randy Rhoads called Kevin DuBrow, they decided to get together to see about putting together a band. Randy went to Kevins house with his guitar and an amp. As Randy began to play, Kevin began to hear the best guitarist hed ever heard.

Around that same time Randy began teaching guitar in his mothers school during the day and playing with Quiet Riot at night. Originally called "Little Women", Quiet Riot got their "new" name from one of Kevins friends from the band Status Quo. Quiet Riot were quickly becoming one of the biggest acts in the Los Angeles area and eventually obtained a recording contract with CBS/Sony records, releasing two full length l.p.s and one e.p. in Japan. Quiet Riots two records, Quiet Riot 1 (1978), which was originally recorded for an American record label, and Quiet Riot 2 (1979), received rave reviews in the Japanese press, claiming them to be the "next big thing". Unfortunately these recordings were never released in the United States. While there were plans for Quiet Riot to tour Japan, their management turned down the offer and Quiet Riot stayed in the United States continuing to sell out college and high school auditoriums as well as clubs in the Los Angeles area. About 5 months before Randy left Quiet Riot, he went to Karl Sandoval to have a custom guitar made. Several meetings and drawings later they would ultimately create a black and white polka dot flying "V", a guitar that would become synonymous with the name Randy Rhoads. The guitar would cost Randy $738.00 and was picked up by Randy on September 22, 1979. (September 22, 1979 saw Quiet Riot playing at the "Whiskey a go-go" in Los Angeles, California,... so chances are, that was probably the first place he ever played that guitar in front of an audience.)

In the latter part of 1979, at the request of a friend (Dana Strum), Randy went to audition for a band being put together by former Black Sabbath lead singer, Ozzy Osbourne. As the story goes: Ozzy had auditioned just about every guitarist in Los Angeles and was about to go home to England, the hopes of a new band washed away. Enter Randy Rhoads. Randy wasnt completely interested in auditioning, he was happy with his current band and thought that this "audition" wouldnt amount to much. As with Kevin DuBrow, Randy's first meeting/audition with Ozzy Osbourne has a few variations:

A.) Randy walked into Ozzys hotel room late one evening with a guitar and a small Fender practice amp, plugged in and started tuning his guitar. He did a few warm up exercises and got the job as Ozzy Osbournes lead guitarist at age 22.

B.) Randy walked into a Ozzy's studio/rehearsal place late one evening with a guitar and a small Fender practice amp, plugged in and started tuning his guitar. He did a few warm up exercises and got the job as Ozzy Osbournes lead guitarist at age 22.

C.) Ozzy was first introduced to Randy in a bar where someone introduced him to Ozzy as his (Ozzy's) "next guitarist".

With Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads and bassist Dana Strum (Slaughter), all that was missing was a drummer. Randy Rhoads brought in a friend of his, Frankie Bannalli (Quiet Riot, W.A.S.P.), and the band began to rehearse in Los Angeles for a short time. However, when it became time to go to England, where Ozzy's albums would be recorded, the record company could only obtain a work permit for one non-English band member,... Randy Rhoads.

Randy was whisked off to England shortly before Thanksgiving of 1979 where, at Ozzy's home in Wales, the two began to write the "Blizzard of Ozz" album and audition musicians to fill out the band. While the band rehearsed at "John Henrys", a rehearsal hall in London, the earliest public performances of Randy Rhoads and Ozzy Osbourne came after theyd complete a song then go to a local pub to play the song for whoever was there. One such song, Crazy Train, appeared to get the audience moving, leading them to believe that they "had something". With ex-Uriah Heap members: Lee Kerslake (drums) and Bob Daisley (bass), the Ozzy Osbourne Band entered Ridge Farm Studios in Surrey, England on March 22 of 1980 and began recording for almost a month.

"Blizzard of Ozz" was originally to be mixed by Chris Tsangarides who was fired after one week because Ozzy felt that it "was not happening" with him. Max Norman, Ridge Farm Studios resident engineer, was then hired to pick up where Chris left off and would play an integral part of both Ozzy Osbourne studio albums and the live e.p., as well as later down the road with "Tribute". After the finishing touches had been put on "Blizzard of Ozz", Randy Rhoads returned home to California in May of 1980, where he teamed up one last time with the members of Quiet Riot at the Starwood club in Hollywood for their final show. However, this would not be the last time he played with Quiet Riot bassist Rudy Sarzo, who would later join Ozzy Osbournes band just before the start of the United States Blizzard of Ozz tour. Once back in England, the Ozzy Osbourne Band surfaced for their first "official" show on September 12, 1980 when 4,000 fans broke the box office record at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland. "Blizzard of Ozz" went straight into the U.K. charts at number 7 as they toured around the United Kingdom for close to three months playing 34 shows.

December of 1980 brought Randy Rhoads back home to California for Christmas. Once again Randy wanted a custom guitar built, this time he went to Grover Jackson of Charvel guitars, about a week before Christmas. With a drawing scribbled on a piece of paper, Randy Rhoads and Grover Jackson created the very first "Jackson" guitar to ever be made. Randys white "flying V" type guitar was yet another guitar that would become synonymous with the Randy Rhoads name. The finished guitar was sent to Randy in England about two months later.

During the months of February and March of 1981, the Ozzy Osbourne band once again entered Ridge Farm Studios to record their second album titled: "Diary of a Madman". With an impending United States tour to follow soon after the recording of "Diary of a Madman", the actual recording of the album became rushed. (Randys solo on "Little Dolls" was actually a "scratch" solo and was not intended to be the solo for the finished song.) None of the band members could be present for the mixing of "Diary of a Madman", which only furthered their already mixed feelings of the album.

With "Diary of a Madman" already recorded but not yet released, the Ozzy Osbourne Band began its North American tour in support of "Blizzard of Ozz", beginning in Towson, Maryland on April 22, 1981, one year and one month after the "Blizzard of Ozz" sessions began. Though they did not play on either studio efforts, Tommy Aldrige (drums) and Rudy Sarzo (bass) joined Ozzys band in time for the North American tour. They toured across North America from May through September of 1981 playing songs from "Blizzard of Ozz" as well as "Diary of a Madman", with a few Black Sabbath songs thrown in to close their shows. The month of June (1981) brought Randy back to the Los Angeles area for his first "local" show with Ozzy Osbourne at the Long Beach Arena. Choosing to headline their tour instead of going on a bigger tour as a support act paid off as "Blizzard of Ozz" went gold in 100 days, though in some of the smaller cities in the United States, their shows were threatened to be cancelled due to poor ticket sales. In one such city, Providence, Rhode Island, the Ozzy Osbourne Band (along with opening act Def Leppard) was informed by the concerts promoter that (due to poor ticket sales) he did not have enough money to pay either band.

Towards the end of the United States "Blizzard of Ozz" tour, Randy once again went to Grover Jackson to have another custom guitar made. He complained that too many people thought his white "Jackson" was a flying-V. He wanted something more distinctive. A few weeks later, Randy and Kevin DuBrow went to look at the unfinished guitar that Grover Jackson had begun work on. Once in the wood shop, Randy and Grover Jackson began drawing on this unfinished guitar for close to an hour before a final design was decided upon. There are two stories as to how the guitar was actually cut:

A.) As Grover Jackson cut the body to their design specifications, Randy waited in Grovers office, not wanting to watch it being cut.

B.) Grover Jackson put the unfinished guitar body on a bandsaw and cut a "chunk" out of it. Randy, watching, said, "yeah, yeah. Thats it!"

Ultimately they came up with a variation of his white "Jackson" only with a more defined look to the upper wing of the guitar. Randy would receive this guitar, the 2nd Jackson ever made, just before the start of the "Diary of a Madman" tour. At the time, there were three guitars being made for Randy. He recieved the first one, the black custom, as they continued to finish the other two. (Unfortunately, one of the "two" guitars, that were being built for Randy at the time of his death, was accidentally sold at a NAMM show by Grover Jackson. The "third" guitar, which Jackson stopped working on at the time of Randy's death, is currently owned by Rob Lane of Jacksoncharvelworld.com.)

Ironically, as with Quiet Riot, Randy Rhoads guitar playing would be heard on two full length albums and one e.p. while in Ozzy Osbournes band. The "Mr. Crowley" e.p. featured live performances of three songs (including: "You said it all", previously unreleased) recorded in October of 1980 in South Hampton, England, during the United Kingdom "Blizzard of Ozz" tour. ('You said it all' was actually recorded during the bands sound check, with the crowd noise added at the time of mixing.) It was said that at that time the "Mr. Crowley" picture disk became the biggest selling picture disk of all time and even earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.

With the release of the Ozzy Osbourne Band's second album, "Diary of a Madman", Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads (the only original member of Ozzys band) along with Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldrige traveled to Europe in November of 1981 for a tour that would end after only three shows. The tour had to be cancelled after Ozzy collapsed from both mental and physical exhaustion. The entire band went back to the United States so that Ozzy could rest. They would come back a little over a month later with a four month United States tour to start December 30, 1981 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco and a single (Flying high Again) that was making it's way up the charts.

Traveling with a crew of approximately 25 Las Vegas and Broadway technicians, Randy Rhoads went from selling out Los Angeles area clubs with Quiet Riot to selling out the biggest arenas in the United States on one of the most elaborate stage sets with Ozzy Osbourne. When the "Diary of a Madman" tour began, their first album, "Blizzard of Ozz", was selling at the rate of 6,000 records each week. Backstage opening night in San Francisco, Randy was awarded with Guitar Player Magazines Best New Talent Award. (He also won best new guitarist in Englands "Sounds" magazine.) With that, the band began an exhausting yet memorable tour that seemed to be plagued with problems. Their concerts were boycotted by many cities while others were attended by local S.P.C.A. officials due to claims of animal abuse. Meanwhile "Diary of a Madman" was well on its way to platinum status.

With all of this going on around him, Randy Rhoads interest for classical guitar was consuming him more each day. Often times Randy would have a classical guitar tutor in each city the band played. It became common knowledge that Randy wanted to quit rock and roll temporarily so that he could attend school to get his masters in classical guitar. Randy also wanted to take advantage of some of the studio session offers he was recieving.

March 18, 1982, the Ozzy Osbourne band played what would be their last show with Randy Rhoads at the Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. From Knoxville, the band was headed to Orlando, Florida for Saturdays "Rock Super Bowl XIV" with Foreigner, Bryan Adams and UFO. On the way to Orlando they were to pass by the home of bus driver Andrew C. Aycock, who lived in Leesburg, Florida, at Flying Baron Estates. Flying Baron Estates consisted of 3 houses with an aircraft hanger and a landing strip, owned by Jerry Calhoun, who along with being a country & western musician in his earlier days, leased tour buses and kept them at the Estate. They needed some spare parts for the bus and Andrew Aycock, who had picked up his ex-wife at one of the bands shows, was going to drop her off in Florida.

The bus arrived at Flying Baron Estates in Leesburg at about 8:00 a.m. on the 19th and parked approximately 90 yards away from the landing strip and approximately 15 yards in front of the house that would later serve as the accident site. On the bus were: Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Arden, Rudy Sarzo, Tommy Aldrige, Don Airey, Jay Duncan (their tour manager), Wanda Aycock, Andrew Aycock, Rachel Youngblood and Randy Rhoads. Andrew Aycock and his ex-wife, Wanda, went into Jerry Calhouns house to make some coffee while some members of Ozzy Osbournes band slept in the bus and others got out and "stretched". Being stored inside of the aircraft hanger at Flying Baron Estates, was a red and white 1955 Beech model F35 (registration #: N567LT) that belonged to Mike Partin of Kissimmee, Florida. Andrew Aycock, who had driven the groups bus all night from Knoxville and who had a pilots license, apparently took the plane without permission and took keyboardist Don Airey and the bands tour manager up in the plane for a few minutes, at times flying low to the ground. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, Andrew Aycocks medical certificate (3rd class) had expired, thus making his pilots license not valid.

Approximately 9:00 a.m. on the morning of March 19th, Andrew Aycock took Rachel Youngblood and Randy Rhoads up for a few minutes. During this trip the plane began to fly low to the ground, at times below tree level, and "buzzed" the bands tour bus three times. On the fourth pass (banking to the left in a south-west direction) the planes left wing struck the left side of the bands tour bus (parked facing east) puncturing it in two places approximately half way down on the right side of the bus. The plane, with the exception of the left wing, was thrown over the bus, hit a nearby pine tree, severing it approximately 10 feet up from the bottom, before it crashed into the garage on the west side of the home owned by Jerry Calhoun. The plane was an estimated 10 feet off the ground traveling at approximately 120 - 150 knots during impact. The house was almost immediately engulfed in flames and destroyed by the crash and ensuing fire, as was the garage and the two vehicles inside, an Oldsmobile and a Ford Granada. Jesse Herndon, who was inside the house during the impact, escaped with no injuries. The largest piece of the plane that was left was a wing section about 6 to 7 feet long. The very wing that caught the side of the tour bus, was deposited just to the north of the bus. The severed pine tree stood between the bus and the house.

Ozzy Osbourne, Tommy Aldrige, Rudy Sarzo and Sharon Arden, who were all asleep on the bus, were awoken by the planes impact and (at first) thought they had been involved in a traffic accident. Wanda Aycock had returned to the bus while keyboardist Don Airey stood outside and witnesses the accident, as did Marylee Morrison, who was riding her horse within sight of the estate. Two men, at the west end of the runway, witnessed the plane "buzzing" the area when the plane suddenly "went out of sight" as it crashed.

Once outside of the bus the band members learned of the catastrophic event that had just taken place. The bus was moved approximately 300 feet to the east of the house that was engulfed in flames. The band checked into the Hilco Inn in Leesburg where they mourned the death of Randy and Rachel and would wait for family members to arrive. While Orlandos "Rock Super Bowl XIV", scheduled for later that day, was not canceled, the Ozzy Osbourne band would not play and the promoters offered refunds to all ticket holders.

Randy Rhoads was put to rest in San Bernadino, California.

Randy Rhoads guitar playing, however, could not be silenced as "Tribute" was released in 1987. "Tribute", recorded live, much of it in Cleveland, OH on May 11, 1981 and Randys solo in Montreal in July of 1981, continued to earn him recognition as a guitar virtuoso.

Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albums featuring Randy Rhoads have sold over 6 million copies combined.

Randy Perry's Randy Rhoads Biography

Randy's Rhoads Web Page http://www.flash.net/~ulknatme/