The Australian bassist and lyricist Bob Daisley is one of the most influential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal musicians of all time. He was part of bands like Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath and played with artists like Ozzy Osbourne and Gary Moore.
Daisley was a member of Rainbow only from 1977 to 1978 but he learned a lot working with the guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, the singer Ronnie James Dio and the drummer Cozy Powell. He recalled in an interview with Talk Louder (Transcribed Ultimate Guitar) what it was like working with them.
Bob Daisley recalls what it was like to work with Blackmore, Dio, and Powell
“Really enjoyable (to be in Rainbow), and a learning curve as well. It was the first big arena band I’d been in, although I played in arenas with Widow Maker because we opened up for ELO… Ritchie was very pedantic about how things should be played. A lot of it sounded like we were jamming on stage, but it was all worked out and rehearsed. It had to be just right.”
“And Ritchie was great; he was a very aware person. And if you were professional and reliable, you were fine with him. It was just people who didn’t take it as seriously as he did he would shun a little bit.”
“It was great to play with Cozy. I’d always been a Jeff Beck fan, and Cozy had played with Jeff Beck. That was a real credential, especially in my view. It took me a little while to get used to Cozy, because he used to push and cut corners a little bit. But, you know, I got used to it. Then a little while of rehearsing, and that was all fine.”
“Ronnie (James Dio) and I got on fine together. I remember when I first joined, being the new kid, Ronnie said to me, ‘I’ll take you under my wing.’ We became friends, and spent a lot of time together, just hanging out,” Bob Daisley said.
After leaving Rainbow, Daisley became a member of Ozzy Osbourne’s band. He was part of the group from 1979 to 1981, 1983 to 1985, 1988 (As a session musician), 1990 to 1991 (As a session musician) and from 1995 to 1995.
