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Once fired from Sabbath Ozzy spent three months staying in his hotel room, having pizza, booze and cocaine brought to him. He thought that his life was pretty well over. His friend, the woman who was so afraid of Ozzy on their first meeting, suggested that he start a new band. This would be the beginning of an even greater career for Ozzy.
A 23 year old guitar player named Randy Rhoads was causing quite a commotion in Los Angeles. he was with Quiet Riot (best known for "Cum On Feel The Noize") and had recorded two albums with Riot, released only in Japan. Ozzy was introduced to the young guitar player through Dana Strum (now of Slaughter), and Rhoads went to Ozzy's audition, playing for just five minutes when Ozzy said that he was in. With Bob Daisley on bass and Lee Kerslake on drums, they recorded "Blizzard of Ozz", in England. The album would contain a melody titled "Dee" which was dedicated to Rhoads' mother, Delores, a major source of inspiration for the guitarist. The Album was released on Don Arden's JET Record label. The record company stayed with Ozzy, dropping Black Sabbath, when Ozzy went solo.
Ozzy then decided to tour, his first solo concert being in Glasgow, Scotland on Sept. 12, 1980. He did have two shows prior to this, under the band name of "Law". The night of his first solo concert, Ozzy and Sharon paced the streets nervously, as, being in Scotland where people usually did not pre-pay for concert tickets, they had no way of knowing how many people would actually show up. Their fears were proven to be unfounded however, as the show was a great success. That night Ozzy played all of his Blizzard of Ozz album, and some Sabbath songs. He broke down and cried at one point, realizing that he could in fact make it on his own without the other Sabbath members. While with Sabbath Ozzy contributed very little as far as writing was concerned, Geezer writing most of the song lyrics and Ozzy doing the vocals. Now though, he and Rhoads were the main writers and had equal say as to what went into the songs.
Ozzy did write 'Am I going Insane' and 'Who Are you' while with Black Sabbath.
The following year saw the release of "Diary of a Madman". On the album cover appeared Ozzy's son, Elliot. Production of the album was rushed toward the end so that the band could begin the tour, Ozzy still said later that he liked Diary better of the two. The album soared to the top 15 on US charts , while "Mob Rules", which was released by Black Sabbath at the same time, reached only #29. Ozzy's first two albums would sell over six-million copies.
While they toured, Rhoads would often hold guitar clinics for kids who wanted to learn to play. One such kid would later have a large impact on Ozzy's life, by the name of Joe Holmes.
The Diary Tour was plauged by misfortune, and became known as the Night of the Living Dead tour. The band was expelled from one town over Ozzy's reputation. the prop truck broke down. A crane fell in Minneapolis crushing $8,000 worth of synthesizers. It seemed that whatever could go wrong did. The show itself was great however. The stage setting for Diary was a huge castle complete with fog, the drummer was situated on a raised platform, and there was a large opening in the center of the stage where a dwarf would come out to give Ozzy water and towels.
During the Diary tour, Ozzy would throw raw meat into the audience. It was (supposedly) part of his contract to throw 25 pounds of calves livers and pigs intestines. The promoters were once phoned by a parent asking how to get the blood out of the clothes. Eventually people began to bring meat to the show to throw back at him, and this progressed to the point where people would throw dead frogs, snakes and cats. Once someone threw a toy doll and Ozzy went crazy thinking that someone had thrown a real infant onto the stage.
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During a concert at Des Moines, Iowa, someone threw a real bat onto the stage. The bat, apparently due to the bright lights of the stage, lay still where it had landed. Ozzy, thinking that it was a rubber bat, picked it up and bit into it, taking off its head. Immediately the audience, not to mention Sharon, freaked out. Ozzy was rushed to the hospital where he would receive rabies shots, treating the whole thing like a joke, even barking like a dog when he was being wheeled into the hospital. He still was not convinced that the bat was real, and sent the crew back to find it. They couldn't find it. The shots were continued for a week, with needles in each buttock, arms and legs. Ozzy would also faint or collapse at following concerts. His advice on the situation - "If you want to be a complete dick, try it!"
The bat would be a symbol for Ozzy on his upcoming albums, and even a tattoo. The animal humane society would show up at Ozzy concerts in boycott attempts, and from this point on her would be marked as a madman, his reputation proceeding him wherever he went to play. Rumors began to spread and grow, taking on a life of their own. One such rumor is the one where Ozzy was supposed to have thrown three small dogs into the audience and refused to play until they were all sent back to him - dead. The bat was a mistake, thought to be a piece of molded rubber, but it would bring endless misery to Ozzy, and spark rumors and fire among his opposers.
On March 19th, 1982 Ozzy and his band were on their way to
 Orlando, Florida from Knoxville Tennessee. Ozzy and Randy had been talking about their recent success, and the future. Randy mentioned his desire to leave the business in order to pursue a degree in classical guitar at UCLA. Ozzy stated later that were Randy still alive it is doubtful that he would still be playing with Ozzy.
They stopped to do some repairs on the tour bus near Leesburg, Florida, and the bus driver, Andrew Aycock invited some of them for a ride on his Beechcraft Bonanza airplane. He took Don Airey and Hake Duncan (the tour manager) for a spin, and after their return, went up again, this time with Rhoads and Rachael Youngblood, Ozzy's seamstress. They did not make it back. The pilot was presumed to be under the influence of cocaine (drug tests later found it in his system) and it was also assumed that he dove the plane into the bus in an attempt to kill his ex-wife, who was standing outside of the bus. The plane clipped the tour bus and then careened into a nearby garage where it exploded. Youngblood and Rhoads were both killed in the crash.
Ozzy would continue the tour in April, taking on Bernie Torme. Torme was with 'Deep Purple', and joined Ozzy when they disbanded. Ironically, 'Deep Purple' disbanded so that Ian Gillan could join Black Sabbath. Torme didn't stay with Ozzy long though, as he was used to playing in smaller clubs and couldn't stand playing in front of such large crowds. He was replaced by Brad Gillis who left 'Night Ranger' to do so, and stayed for the remainder of the tour. Gillis also appeared on the 'Speak of the Devil' album. At the end of the tour Ozzy hired Jakey Lou Williams (Jake E. Lee) with whom he had recorded the 1984 'Bark at the Moon' album.
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