Jake E. Lee

Jake E. Lee (born Jakey Lou Williams; February 15, 1957) is an American musician best known as lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne between 1982 and 1987 and later as a member of the heavy metal band Badlands with Ray Gillen.

In 1980, Lee joined a local heavy metal band called Mickey Ratt, who soon shortened their name to Ratt and relocated to the Sunset Strip of Los Angeles.

They released the single "Dr. Rock"/"Drivin on E," which was given away for free to fans at their live shows.

The song "Tell the World" was included on the original pressing of the first Metal Massacre compilation album in 1982, a highly influential album which also featured the first recording from Metallica.

Not long after arriving in Los Angeles, Lee left Ratt to join a glam metal band called Sexist, reuniting with childhood friend and fellow guitarist Doug Pittam.

Approximately 8 months later, Lee received an offer to join Rough Cutt after being recommended by drummer and former Ratt bandmate Dave Alford in late 1982.

Former Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio was putting together a solo project with Jimmy Bain and Vinny Appice and was impressed with Lee after seeing a Rough Cutt show in Los Angeles, and invited the guitarist to join.

Though Lee had believed Rough Cutt's future was promising, he felt the offer to join Dio was too good to pass up, though his time in the band would ultimately be short-lived.

According to Appice, there were rehearsals with Lee, and recordings of those rehearsals still exist, but nothing more came from this first version of the band.

Lee claims that Dio wanted him to play "simple block chords that wouldn't trample on his vocals" and cited creative differences for the split.

When Ozzy Osbourne sought a replacement for guitarist Brad Gillis, Los Angeles bassist Dana Strum recommended Lee for the job.

After auditioning, Osbourne was torn between Lee and Dokken guitarist George Lynch.

Osbourne initially chose Lynch, but quickly changed his mind.

Upon telling Lee he had the job, he then informed the guitarist that he had to tell Lynch he was fired.

With bassist Bob Daisley, Lee subsequently began composing music and recording the 1983 album Bark at the Moon.

The songs "So Tired" and "Bark at the Moon" were released as singles, with accompanying videos, and they received regular airplay on MTV and radio.

To date, the album has sold three million copies in the U.S. Though Lee had composed a significant amount of the album's music, he was allegedly cheated out of his writing and publishing claims by Osbourne's wife and manager, Sharon.

Lee claims that after he had composed the songs and completed recording his parts in the studio, he was presented with a contract which stated that he would have no claim to any writing or publishing relating to the album.

The contract also stated that Lee could not speak publicly about the matter.

He claims he signed the contract because he had no legal representation and because Sharon threatened to fire him and have another guitarist re-record his parts if he refused.

Osbourne left the Betty Ford Center in 1985 where he had received treatment for substance abuse, and upon his return, Lee presented him with the music he had written.

Osbourne was purportedly very satisfied with the quantity and quality of Lee's new music, much of which would be used for the 1986 album The Ultimate Sin.

This time, however, Lee refused to contribute anything until he had a contract guaranteeing his writing credit and publishing rights.

The album was awarded platinum status in May 1986 and was awarded double platinum status in October 1994.

Lee and Osbourne once again toured extensively, this time with Phil Soussan on bass, John Sinclair on keyboards and Randy Castillo on drums.

In Kansas City, Missouri on April 1, 1986, a concert was filmed which would be released later that year as the home video The Ultimate Ozzy.

In 1987, after touring with Ozzy Osbourne in support of the album The Ultimate Sin, Lee was fired suddenly via telephone by Sharon Osbourne.

Lee was caught off guard by the firing, having been under the impression that he had a solid working relationship with Ozzy.

He has also recorded solo works under his own name—examples being the instrumental album A Fine Pink Mist (1996) and cover album Retraced (2005).

Lee was born in Norfolk, Virginia and grew up in San Diego, where the family relocated to when he was a child.

His father is of Welsh ancestry and his mother is of Japanese ancestry.

He was encouraged by his mother to take classical piano lessons when he was approximately six years old.

He had little interest in piano, but at the age of thirteen Lee began playing a guitar belonging to his older sister and became increasingly interested in learning the instrument.

In his early teens he was introduced to the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin by way of his older sister's record collection, and this music greatly influenced his guitar playing.

The first song he learned was "No Time" by The Guess Who.

From there, he learned from a Mel Bay guitar method book and used his knowledge of music theory from his piano training to become proficient at guitar.

He subsequently played in several high school bands, soon impressing fellow San Diego musicians with his style of playing.

In San Diego, Lee formed a band called Teaser, named after Tommy Bolin's debut solo album.

Teaser would become the house band at a San Diego all-ages club called Straita Head Sound.

He formed the band Red Dragon Cartel in 2013, and their debut album released in January 2014 entered the Billboard Album Chart at number 69.