Randy Castillo
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Randolph Frank Castillo (December 18, 1950 – March 26, 2002) was best known as Ozzy Osbourne's drummer in the 1980s and early 1990s.
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[edit] Early years
Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he began playing music in his high school marching band. His first band experience was playing trumpet in a band that his father was also a member of. He later joined an R&B band as a drummer before forming his first rock band Wumblies in the late-1970s.
Castillo was an ardent admirer of the late drummer, Keith Moon of The Who, and the late John Bonham from Led Zeppelin. However, his favorite drummer was Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones. “I dare anyone to play like Charlie Watts,” Castillo said during a 1984 interview.
Castillo played his drum set in the garage, nonstop. “I’d just play ‘til my hands fell off. My parents would yell at me to stop because they couldn’t stand the noise any more! I was terrible! It must have been hard for them to listen to me as a beginning drummer," he said, still feeling highly sympathetic towards his parents. Randy was quick to note, “My parents really encouraged me.”
[edit] Rock years
In 1980, Randy recorded an LP with a band called The Offenders. The band also featured Randy Rand of Autograph and Glenn Sherba of Badfinger.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and joined a struggling band on the rise called The Motels, just in time to tour with group supporting The Cars. In 1984, Randy was hired to play drums for Lita Ford and was featured on her Dancin' On The Edge album. Lita introduced Randy to her Boyfriend Nikki Sixx and Nikki’s bandmate Tommy Lee. Shortly after the “Dancin’ on the Edge” tour, Tommy called Randy from a party he was at with Ozzy Osbourne and told him Ozzy was looking for a new drummer. Randy was hired by Ozzy a couple months later and ended up staying with the Ozzy Osbourne band for ten years, recording five albums with Ozzy during that time. These were The Ultimate Sin (1986), No Rest for the Wicked (1988), an ep entitled Just Say Ozzy (1990), No More Tears (1991), and a double-disc live album, Live And Loud. After recording Ozzy's live album in 1993, he recorded a 5-song ep with Marilyn Manson guitarist John Lowery titled Red Square Black. In 1999, after Tommy Lee had left Mötley Crüe, Sharon Osbourne called Randy and told him about the job opening. Mötley Crüe gave him the job without an audition. He'd previously briefly played with Vince Neil as a touring drummer for the Vince Neil Band.
He also played with Ronnie James Dio on a cover of Alice Cooper's "Welcome To My Nightmare" on the Alice Cooper tribute album Humanary Stew and performed all drumming duties on a star-studded Def Leppard tribute album titled Leppardmania. The album featured John Corabi (Angora, The Scream, Mötley Crüe), Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt,Quiet Riot) , Kevin Dubrow (Quiet Riot), Joe Leste (Bang Tango), and Jani Lane (Warrant, solo artist), among others. Guitar and bass duties were handled by Jerry Dixon and Erik Turner of Warrant, and Tracii Guns of the L.A. Guns and the original Guns in Guns N' Roses.
[edit] Final years
A couple of weeks before Mötley Crüe was set to go out and tour for “New Tattoo” Randy became ill while performing with his side project “Azul” at the Cat Club in Hollywood. Right after the show Randy took a cab to nearby Cedars Sinai Hospital where he collapsed as he was being admitted. The doctors discovered a duodenal ulcer that had ruptured his stomach and performed emergency surgery that saved Randy’s life. While taking time off from Mötley Crüe to recover from his surgery, Randy discovered a small lump on his jaw and a month later, after it had grown larger, he sought treatment and was diagnosed with Squamous cell Carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer that is not usually fatal if it is discovered early but can spread rapidly if left untreated. The cancer went into remission in mid-2001, and he was rumored to be rejoining Osbourne's solo band for that summer Ozzfest tour (along with Geezer Butler on bass), though these rumors were later revealed to be untrue. The sources of these rumors may have come as a result of his then-bassist and drummer, Robert Trujillo and Mike Bordin, respectively, playing on former Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell's Degradation Trip album. Though both were rumored to be leaving Osbourne's camp to play as part of Cantrell's live outfit, they both returned to Osbourne's solo group after recording. Another rumor had Bordin leaving to re-form Faith No More with the classic line-up that played on The Real Thing and Angel Dust, and Trujillo becoming a full-time member of Black Label Society, both of which also proved to be untrue.
Unfortunately, within a few months the cancer returned, Randy Castillo succumbed to cancer on March 26, 2002. He was 51 years old.
During the final weeks of his life, Castillo had been working with ex-Ozzy Osbourne and Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez on a new band and was in the process of hiring a singer.
[edit] External links
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| Mötley Crüe |
| Vince Neil | Mick Mars | Nikki Sixx | Tommy Lee |
| John Corabi | Randy Castillo | Samantha Maloney | Greg Leon | O'Dean | Robin |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio Albums: Too Fast for Love | Shout at the Devil | Theatre of Pain | Girls, Girls, Girls | Dr. Feelgood | Mötley Crüe | Generation Swine | New Tattoo |
| Compilations and EPs: Decade of Decadence | Quaternary | Greatest Hits | Supersonic and Demonic Relics | Loud as F*@k | Red, White and Crüe |
| Live albums: Live: Entertainment or Death | Carnival of Sins Live |
| Related articles |
| Brides of Destruction | Methods Of Mayhem |
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