Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I got Stephen Ray for you. Oh Ray, here we go,
friend of Ozzie.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Step with Quinn Kinterra in Albany. Mister Ray, Hello, sir, Hey,
how are you Stephen?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I'm good?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
How are you guys good? Your book is Ozzie and
Me Life Lessons, Wild Stories forty years of friendship with
Ozzy Osbourne. We're curious though there's there's a little bit
of an age difference with you too. How did you meet?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
So?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I met at a Crazy Story In nineteen eighty five,
there was a festival in Rio called Rock and Rio.
It was a ten day music festival, like all the
biggest stars from around the world. Ossie of course, Nicey
DC and Aren't Maiden and Rod Stuart and Freddie Mercury
were Queen and all this kind of stuff. And my
dad had always wanted to go to Brazil. And so
(00:47):
my mom wrote to the Ozzy Osbourne fan Club and this,
of course is nineteen eighty five, it's years before the
Internet and that kind of stuff. And she wrote the
Aussie fan club and said, look, we're considering taking our
son the Reo for this show. Can you tell us
how you get tickets? So what happens or how we
would go about arranging this. His secretary called my mom.
(01:11):
His secretary, like out of the blue one night called
and said, listen, we got your letter and if you
are going to go all the way to Brazil to
see this show, then we'll take care of you.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Went they gave us. They gave us being able to
give me back backstage pass. They I watched Ozzie's show
from the side of the stage. They took me on
the on Ossie's bus back and forward to the to
the venue. And then on this last day, Ozzie invited
me for breakfast. So he took me and my parents
(01:49):
for breakfast. No handlers, no security, no assistance, just me,
my mom, dad and Aussie.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Why why why did think you were the chosen one
in this instance?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Well, I think they did. GENI you have to remember
Northern Ireland in the eighties we had the troubles. We
were blowing each other up and killing each other. I
was fifteen years old. I think they've always had a
kind of family vibe around their organization, so there probably was,
and like part of it was just like, you know,
look at this kids, he's a teenager from Northern Ireland,
(02:24):
what can we do kind of things to make things better?
And then also I just kind of hit it off.
I was, you know, I was friendly with the people
who worked for him. I got on well with them,
and they were kind of expanding their organization, their fan club,
they were ramping up and this kind of stuff. And
this is before Google and the Internet. So people would
(02:46):
ride into the fan club and say, hey, you know,
what's the B side of this single? Or what's this
lyric mean or whatever, and they would basically pick up
the phone to me and Steven knows he's a fanatic.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah and so. And then a nineteen six when I
was just sixteen, I'd saved up all my money, I
basically cut out of school and went on tour with
him for a month.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
A lot of bit like the Irish Cameron Crowe, a
lot of similarities to Cameron Crowe.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
They took me on tour, they proved me on their
tour bus, they paid for all my hotel rooms.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
But after all of that, you became friends to the
point where you would give Ozzie leather bound notebooks and
he would write about his escapades in them, and you
knew him and all the way to the very end.
I wonder if it wasn't extremely special for Ozzie as.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Well, you know, Yeah, I mean unfortunately we'll never know,
I guess, but yeah, I mean he would he would
give me things. He was the most generous person I
ever met. And we had like a friendship. You know.
I went and he invited me for Christmas. I went
and spent Christmas with them. I mean, it wasn't there
was no sort of he wasn't doing it. We became
(03:56):
friends years before I became a journalist. So it wasn't
like he got it anything for me. And again there's
a part in the book actually where I speak to
one of his assistants and I'm like, I don't understand
why Ossie's friends with me.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yes, I can't.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I can't give him anything, you know, I'm not a
record company executive.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
No, you could. You gave him everything that that he
wasn't getting everywhere else.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Maybe, you know, I don't remember that that she's and
what she said to me that the woman who worked
from was. You know, if they don't have many real friends,
and it's hard in that world. You know, you're surrounded
by people who want something from.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
You Stephen book. Stephen read the book Ozzie and Me.
This is your this is your memoir about your forty
year friendship with Ozzy Osbourne. You how many? How many
Ozzie shows have you seen? And you were at the
last one?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I imagine, right, I wasn't did yet over two hundred.
I mean I did work from at one stage in
the nineties. They actually sort of had me go on
the road with him. So I think it's two hundred
and eighteen or something like that. I saw more than
two hundred Ausy shows, some of them as a fan,
some of them as an actual sort of employee, some
of them as a guy who turned up and hung
(05:09):
our ound, you know. So so so yeah, I saw
the first show I saw, I was nineteen eighty four.
In the last Onemus was in July, so it was
forty one years.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Did you did you get the chance to say goodbye
to Ozzie? And how did you do it? You know?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
And and they sort of held off. I added an
extra Chapman the book. It was always supposed to come
out this month, and they held off, and it really was.
It kind of chokes me up when I think about it.
The day after the last show, I sort of got
summoned to the hotel where I was in the hotel
as well. I've sort of been working during the show,
and I got a text and as he said, Ozzie
(05:44):
wants to say goodbye, and I went. I went into
his up to his suite and he was there and
we sort of hugged and the last thing said to
me was Stephen Ray, We've known each other a long time.
And you know, that was it was just so incredible. Unluckily,
one of the people who work for him took a
(06:04):
bunch of pictures of me, of me and him hugging.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
He uh, You've said that Prince of Darkness wasn't necessarily
his real persona, that he'd like to sit around and
watch World War two shows with you, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
That was.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
It was funny. It was one of the things that
bonded us, I think was World War Two. We were
sort of fascinated by World War Two. So when we
did meet up, and of course, you know often I
was living in Belfast and he was in la so
it wasn't like we saw each other every weekend. We
might go years without seeing each other, but it was awesome. Okay,
what World War two sides of you visited, you know,
being and what have we used to see things? So yeah,
(06:40):
and that's what our pre you know, I would buy
him for his birth the other chrismal like World War
two books or whatever it is. Yeah, so that was
one of the things that we talked about all the time.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
You got Jack Osborne to write the forward. That's that's
a nice touch.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yes, Jack volunteered that. Jack came a couple of days
after the funeral. He volunteered, came to mend He said,
Steve and I would like to write the forward for
your book. I never asked him again. He actually wrote
it on the plane back to la after his dad's funeral,
which again gives you an idea of the sort of
character family that at the time, when he's you know,
(07:15):
the most of the worst time of his whole life,
he sat down and wrote a forward for me because
he'd offered to do.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I feel like this is a must have book for
every Ozzie fan out there, Ozzie and me. It's author,
Stephen Ray, can grab the book at Simon and Schuster
dot com wherever books are sold.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yes, thank you, Steve and We really appreciate the time
and wish you the best of luck and can't wait.
Maybe we'll get to hear some of the stuff from
the notebooks that Ozzie wrote in at some someday too well.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Thank you guys for your time.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Thanks Steven, wonderful
I got Stephen Ray for you. Oh Ray, here we go,
friend of Ozzie.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Step with Quinn Kinterra in Albany. Mister Ray, Hello, sir, Hey,
how are you Stephen?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I'm good?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
How are you guys good? Your book is Ozzie and
Me Life Lessons, Wild Stories forty years of friendship with
Ozzy Osbourne. We're curious though there's there's a little bit
of an age difference with you too. How did you meet?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
So?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I met at a Crazy Story In nineteen eighty five,
there was a festival in Rio called Rock and Rio.
It was a ten day music festival, like all the
biggest stars from around the world. Ossie of course, Nicey
DC and Aren't Maiden and Rod Stuart and Freddie Mercury
were Queen and all this kind of stuff. And my
dad had always wanted to go to Brazil. And so
(00:47):
my mom wrote to the Ozzy Osbourne fan Club and this,
of course is nineteen eighty five, it's years before the
Internet and that kind of stuff. And she wrote the
Aussie fan club and said, look, we're considering taking our
son the Reo for this show. Can you tell us
how you get tickets? So what happens or how we
would go about arranging this. His secretary called my mom.
(01:11):
His secretary, like out of the blue one night called
and said, listen, we got your letter and if you
are going to go all the way to Brazil to
see this show, then we'll take care of you.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Went they gave us. They gave us being able to
give me back backstage pass. They I watched Ozzie's show
from the side of the stage. They took me on
the on Ossie's bus back and forward to the to
the venue. And then on this last day, Ozzie invited
me for breakfast. So he took me and my parents
(01:49):
for breakfast. No handlers, no security, no assistance, just me,
my mom, dad and Aussie.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Why why why did think you were the chosen one
in this instance?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Well, I think they did. GENI you have to remember
Northern Ireland in the eighties we had the troubles. We
were blowing each other up and killing each other. I
was fifteen years old. I think they've always had a
kind of family vibe around their organization, so there probably was,
and like part of it was just like, you know,
look at this kids, he's a teenager from Northern Ireland,
(02:24):
what can we do kind of things to make things better?
And then also I just kind of hit it off.
I was, you know, I was friendly with the people
who worked for him. I got on well with them,
and they were kind of expanding their organization, their fan club,
they were ramping up and this kind of stuff. And
this is before Google and the Internet. So people would
(02:46):
ride into the fan club and say, hey, you know,
what's the B side of this single? Or what's this
lyric mean or whatever, and they would basically pick up
the phone to me and Steven knows he's a fanatic.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah and so. And then a nineteen six when I
was just sixteen, I'd saved up all my money, I
basically cut out of school and went on tour with
him for a month.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
A lot of bit like the Irish Cameron Crowe, a
lot of similarities to Cameron Crowe.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
They took me on tour, they proved me on their
tour bus, they paid for all my hotel rooms.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
But after all of that, you became friends to the
point where you would give Ozzie leather bound notebooks and
he would write about his escapades in them, and you
knew him and all the way to the very end.
I wonder if it wasn't extremely special for Ozzie as.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Well, you know, Yeah, I mean unfortunately we'll never know,
I guess, but yeah, I mean he would he would
give me things. He was the most generous person I
ever met. And we had like a friendship. You know.
I went and he invited me for Christmas. I went
and spent Christmas with them. I mean, it wasn't there
was no sort of he wasn't doing it. We became
(03:56):
friends years before I became a journalist. So it wasn't
like he got it anything for me. And again there's
a part in the book actually where I speak to
one of his assistants and I'm like, I don't understand
why Ossie's friends with me.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yes, I can't.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I can't give him anything, you know, I'm not a
record company executive.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
No, you could. You gave him everything that that he
wasn't getting everywhere else.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Maybe, you know, I don't remember that that she's and
what she said to me that the woman who worked
from was. You know, if they don't have many real friends,
and it's hard in that world. You know, you're surrounded
by people who want something from.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
You Stephen book. Stephen read the book Ozzie and Me.
This is your this is your memoir about your forty
year friendship with Ozzy Osbourne. You how many? How many
Ozzie shows have you seen? And you were at the
last one?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
I imagine, right, I wasn't did yet over two hundred.
I mean I did work from at one stage in
the nineties. They actually sort of had me go on
the road with him. So I think it's two hundred
and eighteen or something like that. I saw more than
two hundred Ausy shows, some of them as a fan,
some of them as an actual sort of employee, some
of them as a guy who turned up and hung
(05:09):
our ound, you know. So so so yeah, I saw
the first show I saw, I was nineteen eighty four.
In the last Onemus was in July, so it was
forty one years.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Did you did you get the chance to say goodbye
to Ozzie? And how did you do it? You know?
Speaker 3 (05:22):
And and they sort of held off. I added an
extra Chapman the book. It was always supposed to come
out this month, and they held off, and it really was.
It kind of chokes me up when I think about it.
The day after the last show, I sort of got
summoned to the hotel where I was in the hotel
as well. I've sort of been working during the show,
and I got a text and as he said, Ozzie
(05:44):
wants to say goodbye, and I went. I went into
his up to his suite and he was there and
we sort of hugged and the last thing said to
me was Stephen Ray, We've known each other a long time.
And you know, that was it was just so incredible. Unluckily,
one of the people who work for him took a
(06:04):
bunch of pictures of me, of me and him hugging.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
He uh, You've said that Prince of Darkness wasn't necessarily
his real persona, that he'd like to sit around and
watch World War two shows with you, right exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
That was.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
It was funny. It was one of the things that
bonded us, I think was World War Two. We were
sort of fascinated by World War Two. So when we
did meet up, and of course, you know often I
was living in Belfast and he was in la so
it wasn't like we saw each other every weekend. We
might go years without seeing each other, but it was awesome. Okay,
what World War two sides of you visited, you know,
being and what have we used to see things? So yeah,
(06:40):
and that's what our pre you know, I would buy
him for his birth the other chrismal like World War
two books or whatever it is. Yeah, so that was
one of the things that we talked about all the time.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
You got Jack Osborne to write the forward. That's that's
a nice touch.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Yes, Jack volunteered that. Jack came a couple of days
after the funeral. He volunteered, came to mend He said,
Steve and I would like to write the forward for
your book. I never asked him again. He actually wrote
it on the plane back to la after his dad's funeral,
which again gives you an idea of the sort of
character family that at the time, when he's you know,
(07:15):
the most of the worst time of his whole life,
he sat down and wrote a forward for me because
he'd offered to do.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I feel like this is a must have book for
every Ozzie fan out there, Ozzie and me. It's author,
Stephen Ray, can grab the book at Simon and Schuster
dot com wherever books are sold.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yes, thank you, Steve and We really appreciate the time
and wish you the best of luck and can't wait.
Maybe we'll get to hear some of the stuff from
the notebooks that Ozzie wrote in at some someday too well.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Thank you guys for your time.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Thanks Steven, wonderful
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