ADRIAN VANDENBERG Says He Was Asked By OZZY OSBOURNE To Join His Band 40 Years Ago

In a new interview with Canada's The Metal Voice, Dutch guitarist Adrian Vandenberg was asked if was ever approached by Ozzy Osbourne or KISS to join their bands, since Adrian's VANDENBERG had supported both of those legendary rock acts in the 1980s. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I did. A story that I never told before, but it was Ozzy, actually. The first time I met him during the [1983] tour, when we started, but I must say he was not quite sober, which is very unusual for Ozzy, of course. But, yeah, his tour manager introduced me to him, and he was in the lunchroom of one of the hotels. And he said, 'Adrian, do you wanna join my band?' I said, 'Man, we're supporting you guys. And Jake [E. Lee, Ozzy's guitarist at the time] is a fantastic player.' And he mumbled something, like, 'We'll stay in touch or whatever.' But later on, some people mentioned that Don Airey and a couple of other guys in the band mentioned to Ozzy that my style of playing had a lot of resemblance with Randy Rhoads's playing in the sense of classical influences, like Euro metal type of stuff combined with American and blues and whatever. So hearing that and hearing Randy's playing, because I was not really familiar with Randy playing, because Ozzy was not popular in Europe at all at the time — he was huge in the United States. So when we got the invitation to support him, I was kind of surprised. I thought, 'Wow, Ozzy.' I didn't really know he was that huge in the States."

VANDENBERG released its latest studio album, "Sin", on August 25 via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group. The LP was recorded in Holland and Los Angeles with producer Bob Marlette (OZZY OSBOURNE, ALICE COOPER, ROB ZOMBIE).

Exploding out of The Netherlands and onto the global scene with 1982's self-titled "Vandenberg", the Dutch phenomenon notched an international hit in the form of "Burning Heart", paving the way for seminal releases such as "Heading For A Storm" (1983) and "Alibi" (1985). The band canvased the United States, Europe, and Japan alongside OZZY OSBOURNE, KISS, RUSH, SCORPIONS, MICHAEL SCHENKER, and many others. Sought out to join WHITESNAKE, Adrian famously ripped the legendary lead on the 1987 recording of the No. 1 smash "Here I Go Again", which adorned the eight-times-platinum "Whitesnake" and ended up touring the world's largest arenas for a year-and-a-half when the 1987 album went through the roof in terms of sales. He co-wrote the entirety of 1989's platinum "Slip Of The Tongue" and spent the ensuing tour sharing axe duties with none other than Steve Vai. In addition to playing guitar on and co-writing "Restless Heart" from DAVID COVERDALE & WHITESNAKE, he performed hundreds of shows as part of the band for some twelve years. Speaking to the breadth of his output, he notably penned and recorded "A Number One" as the theme for his hometown Dutch football team FC Twente. 2013 saw him launch the acclaimed VANDENBERG'S MOONKINGS, releasing "MoonKings" (2014),"MK II" (2017) and "Rugged And Unplugged" (2018).

VANDENBERG as a band roared back to life with the comeback LP "2020". Among many highlights, "Freight Train" gathered 1.6 million Spotify streams, while the record attracted praise. Sonic Perspectives enthused, "The end result sounds like the missing link between WHITESNAKE and RAINBOW, and updates the group's sound to the new generation of hard rock fans."

In its wake, VANDENBERG welcomed Mats Levén (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, CANDLEMASS) to the fold. The band is rounded out by drummer Koen Herfst and bassist Randy Van Der Elsen.