Ozzy Osbourne Being Sued by Former Bassist Bob Daisley, Who He Claims is an Obsessive Troll
For those of you who don’t know, Bob Daisley played bass on pretty much all of Ozzy Osbourne’s important solo records — 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz, 1981’s Diary of a Madman, 1983’s Bark at the Moon, 1988’s No Rest for the Wicked, and 1991’s No More Tears. In 2003, Daisley, alongside former Ozzy drummer Lee Kerslake, sued the Osbournes for performance royalties, only to have his and Kerslake’s recordings replaced when the CDs they worked on were reissued (though Ozzy eventually saw the error of his ways and put those performances back on the albums, claiming it was all Sharon’s doing). In the end, Daisley’s suit against the Osbournes was thrown out.
Except now, Daisley is suing Ozzy and his company, Blizzard Music Limited, for $2 million. The issue this time? Unpaid royalties over “Crazy Train.”
According to Daisley’s lawyer Alan Howard, the new lawsuit comes from recent evidence brought to light, and claims that:
“…although royalties have been paid to Daisley over the years, an audit conducted in 2014 showed that Osbourne and his company had been improperly deducting undisclosed fees before distributing royalties to Daisley and improperly withholding Daisley’s rightful share of royalties owed under the publishing agreements for the commercial exploitations of the songs.
“While Mr. Osbourne was benefiting from the songs co-authored by our client, the audit shows that he was systematically short-changing Mr. Daisley. Mr. Daisley had no choice but to bring this action to secure his fair share of the proceeds those songs have generated.”
Interesting! It’s pretty widely acknowledged that Ozzy and his people are always looking out for Numero Uno, much to the dismay of anyone caught in the crossfire or anyone with more money than brains. Would the news that Sharon did some legal finagling to make sure she and Ozzy got money that was rightfully Bob Daisley surprise me? Not in the slightest.
Meanwhile, Ozzy’s camp has responded by assassinating Daisley’s character. Their claim is that he’s a money-hungry obsessive trolling the Osbournes for more cash now that he’s retired.
“For the past 36 years Mr. Daisley has been receiving bi-annual royalty statements and checks from Blizzard Music, totaling in the millions of dollars, which have been routinely cashed. Mr. Daisley has audited Blizzard Music accounts over the years using several different auditing firms who found no discrepancies. He has previously filed lawsuits in the U.K. and the U.S. and has lost on each occasion.
“We understand that Mr. Daisley is now in retirement and that these funds are his main source of income, so it is his right to be diligent with his money, but after 36 years, this is tantamount to harassment. We would have hoped that after 36 years that Mr. Daisley would have lost his unhealthy personal obsession and resentment towards Mr. Osbourne’s success. Blizzard Music and Mr. Osbourne plan to vigorously defend these proceedings.”
Hmmm. My immediate reaction is that this sounds like a bullshit excuse made by rich people who don’t want anyone to fuck with even a scrap of their livelihood. Sharon and Ozzy have done themselves no favor in that regard, either.
That said, Daisley’s repeated litigiousness — first over the albums, now over a specific song — does feel like he’s trying to win a consolation prize after his first lawsuit didn’t pan out. It feels especially weird if Daisley is still making decent bank from royalties on “Crazy Train,” though millions of dollars stretched out over 36 years is a little different than making fat greenbacks every year.
More as this pans out.
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