Bobby Rondinelli replaced Cozy in Rainbow when Cozy left the band in 1980. He has played with Black Sabbath and is currently with Blue Oyster Cult. He is touring and working on new material with Blue Oyster Cult as well as his own solo album. He also completed a new book entitled Encyclopedia of Double Bass Drumming which is available now. Bobby plays GMS drums and Paiste cymbals.

My earliest memories of Cozy are with the Jeff Beck Group and Rainbow. Cozy played some cool stuff on those two Jeff Beck albums. I think my favorite had to be Ice Cream Cakes.

The first time I had a chance to see Cozy play was with Rainbow. It was at the Calderone Center in New York 1979. The next time I saw Cozy play was at his last gig with Rainbow at the Castle of Donnington show in England 1980. The band had flown me out to see the show since I was going to take over on drums for them. I finally got to meet Cozy at another Rainbow gig, he had come to see the band play. We were introduced before the show and simply shook hands and that was it. It wasn't until after the show where we ended up on the same elevator together. He just looked at me and said "I came to the show not wanting to like your playing, but I did. Good job! We hung out afterward and had a few drinks.

I was in England recording Cross Purposes with Black Sabbath. I got a call from Cozy where I was staying. He said "Bobby, Cozy here. I'm gonna give you my girlfriends number mate. You've done just about everything else I've done you might as well do her too". Said with an exact Cozy accent.

I also had the opportunity to play drums at the Cozy Powell tribute concert. It was great to get behind Cozy's kit and share the stage with Tony Martin, Neil Murray, Geoff Nichols, and Mike Casswell. I was with Blue Oyster Cult and we had some shows already scheduled, I told the guys I had to do it and they were able to get a replacement drummer for those dates. This was a great thing to do for a great drummer.

Bobby Rondinelli