He could also be one of the creative guitarists to ever stand beside Ozzy Osbourne, however Jake E. Lee has lengthy felt missed in terms of the Prince of Darkness’s storied profession.

Now, the 68-year-old musician admits that collaborating in Osbourne’s farewell present, Again to the Starting, made him really feel “particular” after years of being handled like a “forgotten footnote”.

Talking on Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho’s Discuss Is Jericho podcast, Lee displays on the emotional week main as much as the star-studded occasion.

“It was an ideal week for me,” says the guitarist, whose stint in Osbourne’s solo band lasted from 1982 to 1987 [via Louder]. “Possibly the most effective weeks of my life. I got here in there feeling sort of like a footnote, perhaps even an virtually forgotten footnote: ‘Oh, yeah, we’ll throw him in there too.’ However everyone handled me so respectfully and [there was] encouragement and assist from everyone. It made me really feel particular.”

Lee says that for many years, his contributions to Osbourne’s catalogue – most notably on Bark on the Moon and The Final Sin – have typically gone unacknowledged: “I’m not talked about a lot in documentaries and issues about Ozzy,” he notes. “On the Rock And Roll Corridor Of Fame, you recognize, not a photograph.”

Which was why the invitation to hitch Again to the Starting got here as one thing of a shock. Based on Lee, the decision got here from none apart from Rage In opposition to The Machine’s Tom Morello, who served because the occasion’s musical director.

“When Tom referred to as, I didn’t know why,” Lee remembers. “I’d by no means met him earlier than, however when he referred to as me he stated, ‘I can’t think about doing this with out you!’”

Apart from being a reunion of legends and Ozzy’s closing present earlier than his loss of life simply weeks later, Again to the Starting additionally marked Lee’s first main public efficiency after he was shot exterior his Las Vegas house in October 2024. Three bullets struck him through the assault – one passing via his proper forearm – and the guitarist frolicked in intensive care recovering. Now, months later, Jake reveals he’s nonetheless rebuilding power in his selecting hand.

“I went to bodily remedy, the place they construct up the muscle tissue and ensure they’re stretched and never as unhealthy,” he explains. “It was once that I couldn’t open doorways. That will damage… Now, it doesn’t actually damage. I get some discomfort after I play guitar for a pair hours, however not loads: simply sufficient to information me in direction of re-training my proper hand on methods to decide.”