Terminally Ill LEE KERSLAKE Presented With OZZY OSBOURNE Platinum Albums At 'Hall Of Heavy Metal History' (Video)

January 24, 2019

Former OZZY OSBOURNE drummer Lee Kerslake was inducted into the Hall Of Heavy Metal History on Wednesday, January 23 at Marriott Delta Garden Grove in Anaheim, California. The annual Metal Hall Of Fame gala was hosted by television, radio personality and heavy metal champion Eddie Trunk, and featured appearances by heavy metal greats of today and years past.

During his induction, Kerslake — who has reportedly been given less than eight months to live after battling cancer for several years — was presented with two platinum discs for his work with the BLACK SABBATH frontman. The presentation was filmed for Kerslake's upcoming documentary.

Video footage of Kerslake's acceptance speech can be seen below. Photos are available at HeavyMetalHill.com.

Lee was a member of Ozzy's band in 1980 and 1981 during the Randy Rhoads era, performing on the singer's first two solo albums.

During an interview with The Metal Voice in December, the drummer revealed that after all these years, he just wanted platinum album certifications for both "Blizzard Of Ozz" and "Diary Of A Madman", so he can feel some acknowledgement for his work before he dies.

"I really wrote a nice letter to them and I hope they will come to terms with it and say yes," he told The Metal Voice of his appeal to Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.

Kerslake has since been granted his wish as Ozzy shared a photo on social media earlier this month of Lee sitting on a sofa and holding the "Blizzard" and "Madman" platinum discs, a handwritten letter from Ozzy placed on his chest.

"I'm so glad that Lee Kerslake is enjoying his Blizzard and Diary platinum albums," Osbourne wrote in an accompanying caption. "I hope you feel better. Love, Ozzy"

According to the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA),1980's "Blizzard Of Ozz" has been certified quadruple platinum for shipments in excess of four million copies, while 1981's "Diary Of A Madman" has been certified triple platinum for more three million units sold.

Kerslake and bassist Bob Daisley have been embroiled in a legal battle with the Osbournes for many years, which has taken a massive financial toll on the drummer.

"I went belly-up bankrupt when I lost the case to Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne in the courts," Lee told The Metal Voice. "It cost me hundreds of thousands and I had to sell the house and then started to get ill. I never managed to get back up, but a platinum certification on my wall for these albums would be fantastic and it would say I helped create those albums."

Kerslake and Daisley were fired before "Diary of A Madman" was released and in the process had their names removed from the album. Bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge are credited in the album's liner notes and featured in the photo on the inner sleeve. The tracks played by Kerslake and Daisley on both albums were replaced on a reissue (by current METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo and FAITH NO MORE drummer Mike Bordin) after the duo sued Ozzy and Sharon over royalties. Daisley and Kerslake's original performances were restored in the 2011 reissues of the albums.

Kerslake told The Metal Voice that his prostate cancer has spread to the rest of his body. "I have now have bone cancer, which is a nasty one, so the doctor gave me about eight months to live," he said. "But I've been fighting all the way. Five years ago, they gave me four years to live, and so that gives you an idea."

He added that he was remaining positive. "I'm fighting it and there's no telling what can happen," he said. "They might have a new drug come out, and I'll experiment with it if it keeps me alive… All this time I have had this terminal cancer, but I have defied it because the music kept me fighting."

Kerslake has been working on the aforementioned autobiographical documentary as well as a new album called "Eleventeen", which he hopes will come out this year.

Find more on Ozzy osbourne
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).