10 Guitarists You've Never Heard Of - Jake E. Lee

Although he only appeared on two of Ozzy Osbourne’s albums, Jake Williams definitely had a part in producing two of the most successful albums in Ozzy’s entire career. He started out in the San Diego, CA, area. As a child, Williams took classical piano lessons and by 13 or 14, he was introduced to rock by bands like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and other similar artists. A while later Williams started to learn the guitar as he was very amazed by one of his heaviest influences, Jeff Beck.

In the 70s, Williams played in the beginning stages of bands later to become successes Ratt and Cutt. Both of these bands achieved record label status after Jake had already left. Around this time Randy Rhodes died and Ozzy was looking for a new guitarist. He sent out a local bassist named Dana Strum who had recruited Randy for him previously. Dana found Jake and set up a tryout for him which was an immediate success. Later, Jake found out that George Lynch had originally been given the gig, but complications arose.

Jake Williams then changed his name to Jake E. Lee. His first Concert was also Ozzy’s first performance in the U.S. at the 1983 U.S. Festival. Jake was finally able to work his style into Ozzy’s music when he helped write “Bark At The Moon” (which became a tour with Motley Crue), and “The Ultimate Sin” (which they toured with Metallica).

Jake left Ozzy Osbourne in 1987 due to Ozzy’s unpredictable behavior from alcohol and drug addictions. Around that time, he formed up with former Black Sabbath singer Ray Gillen to form Badlands. Since then he has not attempted a solo career, but he has appeared on many tribute albums.

Appearances by Jake E. Lee:

Jeff Beck (Jeffology: A Guitar Chronicle)

Rush (Working Man), AC/DC (Thunderbolt)

Randy Rhoads (Randy Rhoads Tribute)

Van Halen (2000: A Tribute To)

Metallica (Metallic Assault)

Ted Nugent (Bulletproof Fever)

POSTED: 07/30/2004 - 07:36 am

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Comments

[BrofUJu]

I've heard of this guy. I've heard of most of these guitarists. He's Ozzy Guitarist, how could we not have?

[rhcpcure2826]

^ um ozzy had a few guitarists

ill bet that a lot of people are going to say that.

[guitar_freak523]

yeah i heard of all but two of the guitarist you did,and he wasn't on the randy rhoads tributes!!! look in to your information more

[tauket2]

wow, if someone's never heard of Jake E.Lee, then they must be real dumbasses

[#_of_the_beast]

how can u have never heard of jake e lee

[Psykotik]

Sorry man but most part of us heard of this one, maybe you should search for real good unknown guitarists...

[fendermalmsteen]

I heard of this guy too.

[PARASITE 5150]

Although most people have heard of him, it's a good article and that's what the rating should be based on. He didn't appear on Tribute to Rhoads and that's what costed you a star from me.

[FreebirdSolo]

Good article. I agree with parasite.

[LastoBethLammen]

Pls dudes dont whine.. what the *** does it matter if u never heard of him ?? why whine about it ?? just stfu pls

[strumntheguitar]

I think the main intention of all these articles is to inform everyone (even noobs) of good guitarists other than the ones everyone knows about, like page, vai, slash, etc. sure this guy is a pretty well known guitarist, but he's really good, and not everyone has heard of him i guarantee it. 4 stars

[psychodelia]

bark at the moon was some good stuff. im fine with the articles, maybe they shouldve been called "10 guitarists ordinary people have never heard of"? im not gonna have a fit if ive heard of the guitarist though lol

[FrankNslash]

ive heard of jake e lee hes one of ozzy's four guitarists tony iommi(black sabbath) randy rhodes and zakk wylde

[Encore_God]

Ah yes, the magical disappearing Jake E Lee. Great guitarist, but why doesn't he put out more/any material?!

ive heard of jake e lee hes one of ozzy's four guitarists tony iommi(black sabbath) randy rhodes and zakk wylde

Ozzy's had more guitarists than that! And Iommi isn't 'Ozzy's guitarist'.

[scheck006]

I don't think many non-metal guitar players have heard of him...

[Matty Ramone]

Jake e Lee appeared on rushs working man what???

[im not mental]

Jake was on ACDC's Thunderbolt? and yeah i have heard of him.

[Diceman42]

1. Randy Rhoads is my favourite guitarist ever.
2. Blizzard of Ozz is my favourite album of all time.
3. Jake E. Lee had big f*cking shoes to fill and what he did on those two albums, even with Ozzy f*cked up on drugs 24/7, was nothing less than spectacular.
4. Zakk Wylde may have been better, but Jake was able to bridge the gap since Randy's death.

[MrScary07RR]

you spelled rhoads wrong, thats a great disrespect. i hate seeing that. and jake lee is a lot better than wylde. ozzys guitarists worsened as they went on

[scheck006]

hey man...it was a typo. I did post it in the columns forum for checking! That's where proofreading is supposed to happen! Its NOT MY FAULT I TELL YOU!

[ChurchNSkate]

he shouldnt have left..he was a badass guitarist. i love the shot in the dark solo, rhythm and fills. he had the biggest space to fill, with randy gone(RIP), and he did well. ever notice how ALL of ozzys guitarists sound sort of similar and all use PH frequently?

[Whstripesrox]

How could you not know this guy? Every single guitarist associated with Ozzy is awesome!

scorpions: YOU HAVE ONE MORE CHANCE TO NOT SPAM UP THE ARTICLES. KNOCK IT OFF.

[MonkeyAteMySoul]

Ive heard of him, but didn't really know who he was, also, Ive said it before and Ill say it again, do mattias IA ekluhnd from freak kitchen next

[GuitarN00b]

quick, a moment to brag, and a moment to shine! i've heard of all of them! cuz i'm hardcore, cept not...

[Zoso-Zep]

Jake E. Lee is one of my favorate guitar players ever.. I can see how avarage people wouldnt know who he is though. He hasnt done anything since 89. Its a shame though.

Also, the story is wrong in many aspects. Dana Strum DID NOT discover Rhodes & Lee. Ozzy heard Randy in a room full of auditioners. Listened to him for like 5 seconds and told Randy he is his guitar player. As for Lee, he showed up 45 mins late for his audition. Its obvious why he was actually chosen, lol..

Alot of people dont know that Lee was Warren DiMartini's guitar instructer..

I give you props for the article though. What you should have called the list is "10 most under-rated guitar players"..

[yeller56]

I never knew jack e lee
and I better not get no "you a ***ing idoit!!! lolz fags you sucks" I dont have the big time knowlegde of the old guitarists anyways, and I dont need to I just need to play them.

[yeller56]

Zoso-Zep:
Jake E. Lee is one of my favorate guitar players ever.. I can see how avarage people wouldnt know who he is though. He hasnt done anything since 89. Its a shame though.

Unless you make over a 40,000 a year, your pretty average dude.

[BC516208]

and we need to know about him why? why not have a good achive about keith richards or John lennon, stop focusing on stupid shit, even if you not a fan of old good music from the 70s and 60s dont you think it would be nice to have an intelligent archive, ozzy sux, black sabbath rules, ronnie james was better, who ever let that crackhead into the music buiseness.

a couple weeks ago i was reading a guitar world mag, and it had a column intitled (paraphrase) ozzy quotes on what it takes to be a guitar god, nope.
OZZY DOES NOT PLAY A GUITAR< NEITHER DOES HE PLAY MUSIC!!!!!

[MrLucky77713]

^That's a good observation. So how long did it take you to get that? Did you find it all by yourself?

Listen, you snot nosed little bitch. You want to make an ozzy sucks rant? Do it. Just try. C'mon. I dare you. Assclown. People worked hard on these articles.

spam deleted.

[LastoBethLammen]

hehe why argument about taste the one loves Ozzy the other hates him why should u argument about that pls tell me...

[bucky_2300]

christ! pick some guitarists people have ACTUALLY NOT HEARD OF!

[MasterXaero]

Anybody find it odd that every single one of these "Guitarists We've Never Heard Of," we HAVE in fact heard of? Sounds like the author's the ignorant one, not us.

[GNRoses]

it was a good article, even tho as most people have stated, i've heard of him. all the articles are good other than that.

[fool_rat]

Necer heard of him,, which means, she, i mean he sucks. anyway who likes Ozzy's music??

[faqu]

He wasent in the Randy tribute CD, WTF????

The Tribute album was all live with Randy.

[sthrnrckr101]

wow how d!!!!!....well im just so proud to be here!!!!!!!!!

[SG The Platypus]

Jake E. Lee is ***ing amazing. When I first heard the solo on Bark At The Moon, I could NOT stop listening to it. By the way, does anyone know if his solo album is any good (I think it's called Pink Mist or something like that)?

[ManOfMetal]

JakeELee is one of my favourite unsung guitar heroes.

[shaofu0424]

i once saw jake e lee play with all four fingers and his thumb on the fretboard like jeff healey but backwards or whatever... whoa... peace...

[tbt]

Hej dude's Jake E Lee is an amazing guitarist is my favourite. And some pieces of dirt who don't nothing about him, can't talk about him.
.....his solo album is called A FINE PINK MIST.

[metalboy0392]

shaofu, i saw that... that was on the Ultimate Sin Tour... he did a solo while ozzy grabbed his hair and flung him around n stuff... he's one of my top 10 fav guitarists

[Waterboy799]

Jake E. Lee is a great guitarist
Bark At The Moon is my favorite

[AndrewPike2000]

If you have never done so, I highly recommend taking a peak at Jake E. Lee's solo found embedded in the Ultimate Ozzy concert footage! About a year ago, I was fortunate enough to find it again, on eBay. Jake F'n rocks...

[chrismacker]

when i saw this i laughed
every guitar player should know who he is

[MikeFree01]

Are you kidding me???
You should not write at all!!!!!

[danyetman]

Going back to the Rhoades/Lee/Wylde debate, I have to make one thing clear:

Rhoads was fantastic, better than Lee. But not by much. If you listen closely, you'll recognize that Lee's style seems half-way between Rhoads' style and Wylde's. In fact, I originally thought that "Crazy Babies" was done by Wylde - the soloing style is so similar.

But back to my main point - I recognize Zakk Wylde as a skilled guitarist. I recognize him as a talented guitarist. I recognize him as a damn good guitarist...but not a great one. While he's come up with some great riffs for Ozzy, his soloing ability, while technically tight and accurate...well, it sucks. I have a saying (the veracity of which is only slightly exxagerated) that one can take ANY ONE of Zakk's solos and replace it with another, and the song will still sound like it fits. In other words, his solos all sound the same. *shakes head* He's good, but he's just not worthy of being compared to Rhoads or Lee.

[Parasite 1974]

Jake is a great guitarist. I heard of him before Angus Young, and Zakk Wylde. And to danyetman get your facts straight "Crazy Babies" was played by Zakk Wylde on No Rest For the Wicked. Also your the only person I know who thinks hes not a great guitarist. He's up there with Ace Frehely and Hendrix in my book.

[Ozzy 4ever]

Jake e lee is one of the greatest guitarists of all time; hands down. If you havent heard of him buy the ultimate sin by Ozzy Osbourne (one of the greatest albums of all time)

[larrylaw]

even if your not an ozzy fan have an open mind and listen to the brilliant work jake did on the ultimate sin he is awesome and did have very big shoes to fill

[marcouandreas]

you should all ****ing burn in hell for what u have written.everyone that toured with ozzy was great.randy the god,brad gillis sucked,jake the archangel and zakk just a dwarf compared to these guitar genuises except brad.

[metalgirl1]

I love Jake E.Lee! He is my favorite guitarist & main reason why I wanted to ever play the guitar in the first place. To all the people writing negative things about Ozzys music & the Kick a** guitarist Jake E. Lee-you obviously know nothing about music.