In a recent interview with Jimmy Kay, Ozzy Osbourne’s former bassist Bob Daisley talked about unsuccessfully taking the Osbournes to court for unpaid royalties. He said:
“I went to a lawyer in LA as soon as I found out that Sharon had bought the catalog from her father in 1983, so Lee [Kerslake, drums] and I didn’t know about that.
I phoned her accountant in London and I said, ‘These royalties that Lee and I were meant to get – that we don’t get – where do they go? Does Don Arden get them? Does Jet Records get them? Do Sharon and Ozzy get them? Are they going to charity?’ We didn’t know.
We found out that Osbournes were getting them after they bought the catalog from her father. So I went to see a lawyer in LA and he said, ‘You’ve got a good case here.’ So we started suing them over those royalties. And that was in about 1999 I think.
Anyway, [Sharon’s father] Don Arden found out that I was suing her. And [Sharon] still wasn’t talking to him. And I talked to him on the phone and he said, ‘Come and meet me.’ He was in London and fortunately I was going to London around that time anyway. So Lee Kerslake and I met up with Don in London and he said, ‘I’ll help you.’
Once Sharon found out that her father was gonna help us she made up with him. [Laughs] She hasn’t spoken to him in 18 years and she told her children that their grandfather was dead. They didn’t even know they had a grandfather.
Don was brokenhearted and he cried on the phone to me. Once she found out that he was gonna help us, she made up with him.
So I phoned up Don and said, ‘Look, I know you can’t help us anymore. You made up with Sharon. Good luck to you, I hope you get the joy out of it, see your grandchildren and all of the rest of it.’
What we didn’t know was a couple of weeks later we had an affidavit signed by Don saying that we bribed him and offered him money to be our witness. And that shot down the case so there you go.”
You can watch the entire interview from below.
