Carmine Appice on Getting Fired from Ozzy’s Band: “[Sharon] Doesn’t Give a Sh*t About the Show”
Seems like it’s another week, another Carmine Appice story makes the rounds. From blowing up Nikki Sixx’s spot to talking about Ted Nugent’s character, the influential figure in proto-metal is back with another trip down memory lane. Only this time, it’s to throw Sharon Osbourne under the bus.
During a recent interview with Alternative Nation, Appice described not only how he was unceremoniously let go from Ozzy‘s band in the 80s, but how Sharon Osbourne worked to undermine the drummer and his extra-curriculars while on the road in order to justify his firing.
According to Appice, it all happened while on the road in the U.S. At the time, he was doing a handful of drumming “masterclasses” per day, earning him $1,500 per day in cash. Things didn’t get bad, however, until he started getting press for the fact that some of the masterclass proceeds were going to charity.
“When we came to America I started doing 4-5 masterclasses a day which had 50 people at them. All my master classes were sold out making $1500 a day cash and I didn’t sell any merch, but I got PR because I was taking a couple of bucks a head and donating it to UNICEF and charity. One night in Cincinnati, there was a newspaper article about the master class, playing with Ozzy, and charity posted up backstage to bust my balls. I gave credit to Sharon and Ozzy for the drum setup and effects where it would come to the front of the stage for my drum solo. I just happen to be the drummer on that stage. That night the effect didn’t work I asked Bob You think she would sabotage her show to make me look like an idiot cause of that article.
“He said, ‘Oh definitely.’ She doesn’t give a s*** about the show. Not long after that, she said you seem tired after those clinics you do. Motley Crue was opening for us kicking ass and Ozzy would be on the side of the stage yawning. Ozzy was tired. That night in Cincinnati when the drum effect didn’t work, someone cut my head off all my shirts in the merch boxes. That took some work. 50-80 shirts and someone cut my head off all of it. It was one thing after another. Then I see Sharon, she says I think your name is too big, you need to start your own band. Tommy Aldridge is taking over Monday, you’re fired. What do you mean I’m fired? I have a contract. (Sharon) said I guess I’ll see you in court. The drag about it was, that I was helping Ozzy write some killer songs and get great drum sounds, good production on the next record and he was a friend.”
After he was let go, Appice said Sharon refused to pay for his drums or to have them shipped back to California. He and his drum tech then left the show and traveled back to Cali. Appice eventually did take the Osbournes to court, where an out-of-court settlement was reached. The money, he said, wasn’t close to what he would have made had he stayed with the band or gotten any royalties for the record he worked on.
“And I never, and, and I never got the bonuses for the album that sold like five or ten million. I was like, wow, a lot of money out of my pocket. It was just a complete fuckup, you know? And then, and then, uh, I put King Cobra together after that, and I got some good money. And I was in rehearsal with King Cobra and we were painting vehicles. I bought a motor home of a truck and a van. We wanted all to be white. So we were painting the mobile home white. I had some roadies that work with me that were auto painters. So they knew exactly how to do it. And then Ozzy was there, auditioning a drummer is funny enough.
“He comes up to me and goes: “I hope we can still be friends.” I know you and my misses have a problem. but I hope we can be friends.” So, I mean, what do I tell you? It wasn’t him at all. Yeah. I had Ozzy up on the ladder, helping him mask up the, uh, the windows with masking tape and brown paper was pretty funny.”
Given everything we know about Sharon and her involvement with the Iron Maiden fiasco years ago, this doesn’t sound too farfetched.
