Kelly Garni was one of the founding members of Quiet Riot, the band that Rhoads was in before joining the Blizzard of Ozz. Garni recently spoke with The-Fuze.net about Rhoads and his final days and made some pretty strong claims against the Osbournes. He not only claims that Sharon and Ozzy treated Rhoads badly up until his death but that Ozzy punched him when he announced that he wanted to leave the band. “Randy wasn’t happy in the end. He wanted out,” Garni told The-Fuze.net. “There’s a lot of friction between me and Ozzy because I speak my mind about that. Him and Sharon paint this lovely picture — 'Randy could have left any time he wanted. Whatever Randy wanted, we wanted. To see him happy — that was the most important thing.' Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. They wouldn’t let him out of contract. They threatened him... Ozzy punched him when Randy said he wanted to leave. Two weeks before Randy died, Ozzy punched him in the face, over breakfast. They were adamant about not losing him. They didn't care about his happiness. And who would want to let him go? The guy was a great guitar player, a nice kid, very serious…so I can't blame him for that, but the reality of it was when it came time for him to really try to get out of that band they played hardball. It turned into a very unhappy situation. Randy was the kind of guy who didn't like to hurt feelings and didn't like confrontations. I think he just kind of resigned himself to, 'Well, I’m stuck here.' I've read some letters that he wrote, and he actually wrote to [former QUIET RIOT singer] Kevin [Dubrow] about it more than anything. He thought Kevin could advise him a little better. Kevin made me copies of these letters. He was miserable in that band. He didn't even like anybody else in the band. . . [Randy] and [former QUIET RIOT bassist] Rudy never really were all that close. Rudy was at least a little bit of a connection to where Randy came from, and Rudy's a very nice guy, but he's not really… 'Randy people,' I guess is the best way to say it. I don't think Randy felt like he had a good close friend there, or an ally. Rudy has a tendency to mind his own business. So Randy was stuck. It's weird that, to get out of that band, he had to die. You could almost say that was the only way he was ever going to get out of it. They weren't going to let him go."

Take what this guy says with a grain of salt. He was fired from Quiet Riot before they hit it big because, as was stated in an interview, "he was a lousy musician."

He's had some sour grapes ever since, so I wouldn't put it beyond belief that this is an attempt at his 15 minutes. Him saying Randy & Rudy Sarzo were never close emphasized this, as it's common knowledge that Randy recommended Rudy to Ozzy.

The guy's looking for attention....

And how long has he been holding this information? Ya know....water under the bridge. Even if this is true, it was a looooooong time ago.

I DON'T hate Sharon Osborne, and I find it petty that this is blamed on her. She's a shrewd business woman and did what she did to get Ozzy's career back on path. With very little help from him, I might add. Yes, he has the talent, but his drinking and drug use made her job very difficult. It's no secret that I like this woman. I wish I had her balls.

I think a different subject line for this thread would have been more appropriate.