Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on December 18th 1950, Randy Castillo got his start in music very young pounding the drums in his high school marching band.
Later... he joined his first band with his father, playing this time the trumpet at local weddings & parties.
Soon Randy realized that only lead singers, guitarist, & drummers picked up chicks... so it was time for a change.
He joined a local James Brown type R 'n B band and started playing drums again.
After a short time playing R 'n B, Randy found his true calling.... Rock 'n Roll.
Randy joined his first rock band, the "Wumblies", he hit the road in 1973, touring from New York to Chicago to LA. By the early 80's, he knew for him to make it big, he had to move to LA.
In '81 Randy moved to LA & joined the "Motels". He hit the road for his first major tour playing in arena's opening for the "Cars". In the mid 80's, Randy joined forces with Lita Ford & recorded the "Dancin' on the Edge" album. He also was introduced to Nikki Sixx (Lita's boyfriend at the time) & Tommy Lee. They all quickly became friends.
After the "Dancin' on the Edge" tour, Randy moved back to his home state & got into snow skiing to kill some time... he became a bum. One day out of the blue, Tommy Lee calls from a party with Ozzy Osbourne & tells Randy that Ozzy needs a new drummer.
The next day Randy & his broken right leg were on a plane to meet Ozzy.
Things don't work out at the audition, but Randy & Ozzy do hit it off. Two months later, Randy gets a call from Ozzy asking how his leg is doing. Randy tells him that it's never been better. On the spot, Ozzy asked him to join his band. For the next 10 years, Randy plays & Co-writes music for Ozzy.
Castillo appeared on numerous tours alongside Ozzy, and played on such hit albums as 1986's The Ultimate Sin, 1989's No Rest for the Wicked, 1990's Just Say Ozzy, 1991's No More Tears, and 1993's Live and Loud. After leaving Ozzy's band in the mid 1990s, Castillo laid low for a period, but lent his drumming skills to other artists' recordings; including the soundtrack to Poison singer Bret Michaels' 1998 movie, Letter from Death Row, as well as a 1997 self-titled release by guitarist Terry Ilous' all star project, Cage. In April of 1999, Randy gets a call from Sharon Osbourne telling him that Motley Crue is now looking for a new drummer and that he should really call Nikki; what an irony! Randy & Nikki talk on the phone for a while when Nikki asks if he could call him back in a few minutes.
After Nikki called Mick & Vince to find out what they thought of Randy, he calls Randy back to offer him the job... no audition... no demo's...
Shortly before his diagnosis, Randy also became a member of Motley Crue, touring with them on the support of their "New Tattoo" album. He, unfortunately had to quit mid-tour do to his illness and battle with cancer.
Randy departed from this earth at the untimely age of 51 after a long, hard battle with cancer. He is survived by 4 sisters and his mother.
Although I will never understand why God chose to take you from us so soon, you will always and forever be in my heart. Until we meet again, may you rest in peace and dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Birth Name: Randolph Frank Castillo
Born: December 18, 1950 - Albuquerque, New Mexico
Died: March 26, 2002 - Los Angeles, California
Cause Of Death: Cancer
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Hey; thanks for addin' me; met Randy down in Tucson, back when he was in the Offenders, and ran into those guys pretty often for a year or so; fun guy in a band of fun guys. Even got to play a tune one night when Glen jumped off stage, threw his guitar on me and "danced wif' ma' date". Cheers to ya; JimmyE
