Yes Keyboardist Rick Wakeman Talks About His Memories With Ozzy Osbourne and His Passions For Alcohol

Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman shared his old memories and candid thoughts on Ozzy Osbourne in an interview with Classic Rock.

The famous keyboardist Wakeman, who started to make his name known for the first time between 1969 and 1971, made his debut with The Strawbs band on July 11, 1970 at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

Wakeman took part in the concert with his piano piece Temperament of Mind and received great acclaim. Rick made a name for himself after his performance and was featured on the front page of Melody Maker for the first time; The newspaper called him the Superstar of Tomorrow.

Rick Wakeman, who joined the band after the Yes band’s conflict with Tony Kaye, took a leap in his career and signed a five solo album contract with A&M Records in late 1971.

Anyway, keyboard magician Wakeman, who continues his solo career, is to reminisce about the old days in his latest interview. Rick has had many health problems in the past due to alcohol.

Rick Talks About His Alcoholic Passions and Journeys With Ozzy Osbourne

Rick said: “Yes supported Black Sabbath in America in the early days, and me and Ozzy always got on great.

“Because of my various alcoholic diseases, I haven’t been able to drink for years, but back then I was a serious drinker, as were all of Sabbath, so we got on like a house on fire, matching each other drink for drink.

“When we supported ’em on Yes’s [1971] Fragile tour they had a spare seat on their private plane, so a lot of the time I’d travel with them.

“You literally couldn’t move for booze on that plane. Ozzy was probably putting away as much as me – which was as much as humanly possible.

“Was Ozzy going off the rails when I worked on [1973’s] ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’? I don’t think he was ever on the rails, was he?

“Actually, I think Ozzy is very clever – because he’s got this knack of appearing to be out of control, while actually being perfectly in control. I never saw him too wasted to perform.

“He really showed his versatility when he did ‘Buried Alive’ with me and the London Symphony Orchestra on 1999’s ‘Return to the Centre of the Earth.’

“I asked him to do a track, he asked who it was with, and when I told him it was the London Symphony Orchestra and the English Chamber Choir he basically said – but in less polite words – ‘Bless my soul, that sounds a treat!'”

Rick‘s interactions with Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne began in 1973 at Morgan Studios.

Rick Wakeman was recording Tales from Topographic Oceans with his band at Morgan Studios at the time, while Black Sabbath was recording Sabbath Bloody Sabbath at the next studio.

Rick was brought in as a session player on Sabbra Cadabra on the album Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Rejecting the group’s request to pay him, Rick agreed to pay in exchange for alcohol.

Rick Wakeman Also Talked About His Yes Bandmate Singer Jon Anderson

Rick talked about how he met Jon Anderson and how the press misrepresented the relationship between the two. He stated that they never argued violently enough to reach the physical dimension and that they were friends no matter what.

“The first time I saw Jon was when Strawbs supported Yes in Hulli,” he says. “We were the opening act, and I’d heard all about Yes, so after we’d done our bit I sat at the back and watched.

“Most singers back then were six-foot-three with greasy hair, and on comes on this diminutive little fella with an alto voice.

“The press had a field day about our relationship – because I was a beer-swilling meat eater and he was a teetotal vegetarian.

“They’d make out that we’d fight tooth and nail, which was bollocks. I mean, we did have fierce discussions, and early on people often heard us screaming about something that had gone wrong, and the next day you’d read, ‘Yes To Split!’

“But it never got physical – he’s half my size. Jon and I did a duo tour in 2010, and we reminisced about the rubbish you’d read in the press.

“I mean, the number of times I read that Keith Emerson and I hated each other… Keith and I were having lunch in London once, and about three people came over and told us how nice it was that we’d made up!”