10 Amazing Bands Who Lost Members At The Height Of Their Potential

9. Ozzy Osbourne (Randy Rhoads)

Randy Rhoads has been described as Ozzy Osbourne€™s musical soul mate. Osbourne left Black Sabbath well past that band€™s prime, and without Rhoads€™ incomparable guitar chops and challenging arrangements, his solo career may never have gotten off the ground. With Osbourne firmly established as a viable solo star, the sky appeared to be the limit for his band, as Randy - a classical player who learned guitar at his mother€™s music school - had aspirations to move on from Ozzy's band, but we will sadly never know what he€™d have gone on to. In March 1982, a small plane carrying Rhoads clipped the accompanying tour bus on the ground below, causing a crash that killed Rhoads, the band€™s makeup artist and the pilot. One of the most important figures of metal and neoclassical guitar playing, Rhoads lent Ozzy€™s first two solo albums a high degree of technical precision and variety, from the acoustic playing on Diary of a Madman to the tightly composed, complex passages in Mr. Crowley. A devastated Ozzy eventually pulled himself together and has gone on to be one of the most influential performers in music history, but Rhoads sadly missed out on the monstrous success sown from his contributions to Ozzy's early material and the world missed out on his continually developing gift.