Zakk Wylde

 
Zakk Wylde was born Jeffery Philip Wielandt on January 14, 1967 in Bayonne and raised in Jackson, New Jersey. Zakk began guitar at the age of eight, only to quit a short time after due to lack of interest. Zakk then attended Jackson Memorial High School where he then picked up the guitar again at age 14. He began taking lessons from his high school football coach’s son, LeRoy Wright. And later studied classical guitar. Zakk formed his first band “ Stone Henge” playing songs by Black Sabbath and Rush. 

Around 1985 Zakk began to write originals and joined a band called “Zyris” This is when he started calling himself Zakari Wyland. He got the name from the TV show Lost In Space’s character Dr. Zachary Smith. Zyris played original material as well as covers by their favorite bands, Zyris played some, but not many gigs in the southern Jersey area.

Hearing on the Howard Stern Show that Ozzy would be auditioning unknown guitarist's Zakk  took a chance and got the audition with Ozzy. During the audition Zakk played a few Ozzy songs and some acoustic and classical stuff. After the audition he returned home thinking he didn’t get the job. Shortly after he received a phone call from Sharon Osbourne asking if he would join the band.

Zakk had joined up with Ozzy at the age of 20, in May of 1987. It was then he was given the last name “Wylde”, which he was called for obvious reasons. Ozzy introduced Zakk as his new guitarist at the Hard Rock Café in New York City, on Dec.15, 1987. Zakk Wylde made his debut with Ozzy Osbourne on album in 1988 with "No Rest For The Wicked." Zakk quickly became a big name in the guitarist community, due to his instantly recognizable guitar sound and style.

In 1989, Zakk toured the world playing guitar for Ozzy. He basically went from an unknown kid playing small clubs in New Jersey, to playing huge arenas. The live E.P. "Just Say Ozzy" was released in 1989. It featured Ozzy, Zakk, Geezer Butler, and Randy Castillo playing three No Rest For The Wicked tunes, a version of the Jake E Lee penned song "Shot In The Dark" from The Ultimate Sin, which is universally recognized as way better than the studio version, and two Black Sabbath classics, "War Pigs," and "Sweet Leaf."

In 1990, Ozzy and Zakk recorded No More Tears . No More Tears is generally regarded as one of Zakk's best performances. The tour for No More Tears, aptly titled "No More Tours" was billed to be Ozzy's final farewell tour. The band went back into the studio during the tour to record a few new studio tracks that were to be included as bonus tracks to the live album they were going to release. Live & Loud was a double disc set of live recordings from Ozzy's supposed final tour.

In 1995, Ozzy came out of retirement and recruited Zakk, Geezer Butler, and Deen Castronovo to record his next album. Ozzmosis came out in 1995, which featured the pounding leadoff single "Perry Mason."

It was during this time that Zakk began jamming with a few of the guys from Guns N Roses. Several songs were demoed with the band, including a song with an early version of the riff for "The Rose Petalled Garden." Zakk was torn between joining Guns N Roses, and touring with Ozzy. He waited too long, and Ozzy eventually hired a guitarist by the name of Joe Holmes for the Ozzmosis tour. Zakk received a message from Guns N Roses that his services would not be needed.

Zakk Wylde, Mike Inez, and Randy Castillo, the No More Tears band, were rehired by Ozzy Osbourne in early 1998 for a tour in New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. Mysteriously, the entire band was let go without reason by the Ozzy camp after they got back from Japan. They were supposed to play Ozzfest '98 in the US, but this never happened. Zakk went to Italy in early May 1998 to do a one-off show by himself, and then he called up Phil Ondich  and what became Sonic Brew was recorded in May 1998 in Miami.

Sonic Brew was released in Japan on October 28th, 1998. It contained 13 tracks ("Lost My Better Half" and "No More Tears 2000" did not exist yet), an awesome album cover that was printed on clear plastic, with a separate paper booklet. The back cover was printed with golden ink, and the packaging was, overall, a lot better than the USA version ended up.  Zakk and Phil decided to give the USA an extra bonus track for the album, and went to the studio in California and recorded "Lost My Better Half" as a one-off bonus track for the album. It was Zakk's heaviest song to date. Sonic Brew was finally released in the USA on May 4th, 1999.

The band needed a bass player, so Zakk put out an ad in all guitar magazines. Zakk ended up hiring his long-time friend bassist J.D. as Black Label Society's bass player. The lineup was now complete.

BLS performed their first ever show in Japan on May 1st, 1999 at Club Quattro, Shibuya Tokyo. After the European tour, the American tour dates that were scheduled all got cancelled, and there was a wait before the US tour. Black Label Society finally kicked off their tour of the US in mid September 1999, with the band Loudmouth opening for them for many of the dates.

"Alcohol Fueled Brewtality Live" was recorded in October of 2000, and was released on January 16th, 2001. Black Label Society was added to Ozzfest 2001 that summer as the main stage opener.

Zakk recorded a new album with Ozzy in the Summer/Fall of 2001, but did not write any of the tracks for it. "Down To Earth" was released on October 16th, 2001, and Ozzy and Rob Zombie toured together as the "Merry Mayhem" tour for winter 2001 and then again in 2002 for the Down to Earth tour.

Zakk returned to the studio and recorded what became "1919 Eternal." released on March 5th, 2002.

Black Label Society continues to pound out albums and crushing licks as witnessed by "The Blessed Hell Ride" in 2003. Followed by "Boozed, Boozed and Broken Boned" and their latest release "Mafia" in 2005.

Zakk continues to provide the Ozzy Osbourne band with his talents whenever Ozzy hits the road.
 


cover  Click on the pic to buy Ozzy Live at the Budokan on DVD