After being fired from Black Sabbath, Ozzy spent three months staying in his hotel room. It was around this time that his friend Sharon Arden suggested he start a new band. Over in Los Angeles, a 23 year old guitar player named Randy Rhoads was turning heads. Born Dec. 6, 1956 in Santa Monica, Randy was with a band named Quiet Riot. He showed up at Ozzy's audition and reportedly played for just five minutes before Ozzy said he was in. With Bob Daisley on bass and Lee Kerslake on drums, they recorded an album, "Blizzard of Ozz", in England.

Ozzy then decided to tour, with his first solo concert in Glasgow, Scotland on September 12, 1980. The opening day of his first solo concert he and Sharon paced the streets nervously. Since people in Scotland usually showed up at the concert without prepaying for tickets, they had no way of knowing how many people would show up. As it turned out it was a big success. Ozzy played all of his Blizzard of Ozz album and some Sabbath songs. Eventually he broke down and cried because he realized that he could make it on his own without the other three Sabbath members with whom he had paved the road to success.