Profile of Randy Castillo on Famous Like Me

Randy Castillo (December 18, 1950 – March 26, 2002) was best known as Ozzy Osbourne's drummer in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Early Years

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he began playing music in his high school marching band. His first band experience was playing trumpet in a band that his father was also a member of. He later joined an R&B band as a drummer before forming his first rock band Wumblies in the late 70’s.

Castillo was an ardent admirer of the late drummer, Keith Moon of the Who, and the late John Bonham from Led Zeppelin. However, his favorite drummer was Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones. “I dare anyone to play like Charlie Watts,” Castillo said during a 1984 interview.

Castillo played his drum set in the garage, nonstop. “I’d just play ‘til my hands fell off. My parents would yell at me to stop because they couldn’t stand the noise any more! I was terrible! It must have been hard for them to listen to me as a beginning drummer," he said, still feeling highly sympathetic towards his parents. Randy was quick to note, “My parents really encouraged me.”

Rock Years

He moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and joined a struggling band on the rise called The Motels, just in time to tour with group supporting The Cars. In 1984 Randy was hired to play drums for Lita Ford and was featured on her Dancin' on the Edge album. Lita introduced Randy to her Boyfriend Nikki Sixx and Nikki’s bandmate Tommy Lee. Shortly after the “Dancin’ on the Edge” tour, Tommy called Randy from a party he was at with Ozzy Osbourne and told him Ozzy was looking for a new drummer. Randy was hired by Ozzy a couple months later and ended up staying with the Ozzy Osbourne band for ten years, recording five albums with Ozzy during that time (3 Studio / 2 Live). In 1999, after Tommy Lee had left Motley Crue, Sharon Osbourne called Randy and told him about the job opening. Motley Crue gave him the job without an audition. He'd previously briefly played with Vince Neil as a touring drummer for the Vince Neil Band.

He also played with Ronnie James Dio on a cover of Alice Cooper's "Welcome To My Nightmare" on the Alice Cooper tribute album Humanary Stew.

Final Years

A couple of weeks before Motley Crue was set to go out and tour for “New Tattoo” Randy became ill while performing with his side project “Azul” at the Cat Club in Hollywood. Right after the show Randy took a cab to nearby Cedars Sinai Hospital where he collapsed as he was being admitted. The doctors discovered a duodenal ulcer that had ruptured his stomach and performed emergency surgery that saved Randy’s life. While taking time off from Motley Crue to recover from his surgery, Randy discovered a small lump on his jaw and a month later, after it had grown larger, he sought treatment and was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer that is not usually fatal if it is discovered early but can spread rapidly if left untreated. Unfortunately, Randy Castillo succumbed to cancer on March 26, 2002.

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