How Jake E. Lee Got Screwed by Sharon Osbourne

Jake E. Lee was (and still is probably) a hell of a guitar player. Dude was 110% on the stage and owned the crowd!

Who is Jake E. Lee

For this we have to go back to the beginning of Ozzy Osbourne's solo career. After Ozzy got kicked out of Black Sabbath due to his alcoholic issues, he was out to form to his own band. Randy Rhoads played the lead, who by the way just like Jake, was also a real good guitar player. He could've been one of the greatest but unfortunately died on a plane crash. So it's kind of like Andrew Luck --  he was pretty good but the unfortunate circumstances prevented the dude from achieving ultimate heights. 

After Randy's tragic but totally preventable death, Ozzy choose Jake to be his new lead. The band then  continued to tour for Blizzard of Oz and Diary of a Madman -- the two Ozzy-albums that had released prior Randy's death. 

Getting Screwed

After touring, as I wrote earlier, the crew returned back to the studio to work on their third album: Bark at the Moon. Now here's where the controversy starts. Jake claims he wrote some of the lyrics and most of the riffs and solos. In fact he was involved with all of the guitar work. Ozzy camp doesn't really deny this. So what's the issue, you might ask? Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy wife and band manager, didn't really want to give credit to Jake. Giving credit also means comparable financial compensation for one's work. Instead Sharron gave extra $5,000 up-front to Jake and pretty much threatened to fire him had he not accept the new deal! 

Jake had not other choice but to accept it. I mean he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. He had two bad choices and chose to take the money (low-balled money) and stay in the band. The actual money that Jake would've gotten for his work ultimately ended up in Ozzy's pocket. Yeah, that's how that worked out - pretty much of a cut-and-dried situation. 

Latter Years

Ozzy and Jake continued to work on the band's fourth album, Ultimate Sin. We can all say that irony isn't lost in the title. This time Jake actually got some credit. But that was the last album they worked together before Jake getting fired by Sharon. Only thing I can think of is that Jake, deservedly, got some more cash and that probably didn't sit well with Team Ozzy!

My Take 

When you join a band replacing a person that used to be a cornerstone of the group, you're not seen as equal to the person you're replacing in the eyes of everyone else. We saw this with Jason Newsted and Metallica. There was Metallica and then there was Jason - he was not really part of the band as much as the other three were. 

Sharon Osbourne still probably owes Jake around ten million dollars in loyalties, which of course Jake will never get! And that's the business side of music. This kind of remind of Corporate America where everyone is trying to screw everyone else. 

If you want to read more about this, check these out -

• https://www.goldminemag.com/articles/former-ozzy-guitarist-jake-e-lee-clears-up-the-past-and-moves-forward
• https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/jake-e-lee-says-he-found-out-he-was-fired-from-ozzy-osbournes-band-from-his-guitar-tech