Ozzy's PA Tony Dennis How did he get the job ?? update 28/9

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GUITARIDOL5682
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Ozzy's PA Tony Dennis How did he get the job ?? update 28/9

Post by GUITARIDOL5682 »

This is a cool story about Ozzy's personal assistant Tony Dennis and how he got to be where he is today.Tony use to work at the Newcastle city Hall as a local crew roadie,he is from the North east of England i think he was born in Blyth.His job was to do the load in and the load out.I think it was during the Bark at the Moon tour that Ozzy visited the Newcastle venue and if you can remember Ozzy had a guy come on stage dressed in a full suit of armour and he would bring Ozzy refreshments onto the stage Ozzy would introduce him as "Iron Man".The guy who's job this was decided that he'd had enough and he didn't want the gig anymore so the spot got filled by Tony.I heard it was like Prince Charming looking for Cinderella for the glass slipper fitting sketch.All the crew were fighting to see who would fit into the suit and Tony was the only one who it fitted well.He carried on to do the World tour and he done the Ultimate sin tour aswell.During this time Ozzy warmed to him and he then became his Personal Assistant to which everyone seen when he was made a household name on the TV show the Osbournes.(a photo from 1984 with Ozzy on the thrown Below) I hope his job didn't involve backside wiping duties,i don't like the way he's hanging around there !!!!!
Last edited by GUITARIDOL5682 on Fri Sep 28, 2007 2:38 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Post by Trigger »

I thought that he met Ozzy at the Glasgow show in 1980 and started to work for him soon after.
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Post by Supernaut »

I heard he was a loyal fan of black sabbatha nd went to EVERY gig and slept rough just to see them....



....so I heard...
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Post by GUITARIDOL5682 »

Trigger wrote:I thought that he met Ozzy at the Glasgow show in 1980 and started to work for him soon after.
I don't know the background on this but i can find out as one of my mates is a good pal of Tony's and he was a total Ozzy nut and he probably went to alot of the gigs with Tony.
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Post by GUITARIDOL5682 »

I have just getting some old Ozzy fan club fanzines from 1984-85.These have some very interesting reading aswell as some rare Ozzy pics that i have not seen before.One interview is from Ozzy's P.A Tony Dennis and it gives a personnel account of how he got the gig with Ozzy enjoy...

It all started back in 1973 when i was just a lad of 14.I was crazy on Black Sabbath,i used to go to all their concerts when they came to Newcastle.A few times i got to meet Ozzy and other members of the band,either after a show backstage or by finding out where they were staying and hang around until they arrived.

After Ozzy left Black sabbath in 1978,i didn't see him play for two years.I heard rumours that he was giving up the music business then came 'Blizzard of Ozz'.that was in 1980, their first concert in Britain was in Glasgow,i went with a mate of mine from South Shields, Andy.The concert was brilliant,the feeling in the audience was really electric.I expect it must have been very emotional for Ozzy to get such a response from his fans after a two year break.He must have realised he was a long way from finished in the business.We tried to get backstage to see him but we couldn't.We decided that we would try and get to as many concerts on the tour as possible.I had just been paid off from work and Andy had just left school so we had no commitments.

The next gig was in Edinburgh.Before the show we went backstage,there was quite a crowd and we couldn't get near Ozzy, Sharon was there at the time i thought she was his wife and i didn't realise that she was his manager.We went over to speak to her for a while,she was surprised that we had come all the way from Newcastle to see Ozzy.We asked if she could get Ozzy's autograph for us and maybe a quick word with him,she went one better than that and invited us backstage to meet him while they were doing the sound check.When she found out that we didn't have any tickets she arranged for us to get some,we also got a scarf and programme each as well as some other things.We couldn't believe it.

The next gig was in Newcastle which is only 14 miles from my home town Blyth.The band were to play at the City Hall,i contacted the venue a couple of weeks before they were due to play to ask if i could work for the "Blizzard of Ozz" concert,i even offered to work for nothing.I got the job for the night.So i met Ozzy and Sharon,his wife,it was another great performance by the band.Next we went to London for the Hammersmith Odeon gig,we didn't have any tickets but we thought we would wait around and maybe get the chance to see Ozzy again.

We sat in a snack bar across the street from the Odeon and waited,we had only been there ten minutes when Ozzy's tour mamnager came in and recognised us.He was surprised to see us in London for the concert.He told us to come to the stage door later and he would arrange some tickets for us.While we were waiting outside the door,Ozzy and Sharon drove up,and they were also surprised to see us.We got our tickets and went to see "Blizzard of Ozz" yet again,we still found the concert as great as the first.We told Sharon we were intending to go to every concert that Ozzy did in England.That night Andy and i slept on Kings Cross station.

Sharon saw to it from then on that we got passes into all the concerts - Manchester, Liverpool , Birmingham, Sheffield, and so on..We managed to see Ozzy after most of the shows.When we went to see him at the Brighton Dome, Ozzy and sharon had to return to London straight after the show,so Sharon asked the tour manager to give us their room in a local hotel and look after us.We thought that was paradise after sleeping most nights in stations.

The next day we said that we were going to Canterbury for the last date of the tour,they offered us a lift.We went in a car with Randy Rhoads :lol: When we arrived Sharon had booked us into the same hotel as Ozzy and the rest of the band.A few hours before the show Randy asked us if we wanted to go shopping with him..

Later we all walked from the hotel to the Canterbury Odeon which was only a few hundred yards down the road.That night after the show Sharon invited us to the end of the tour party in the hotel,which turned out to be a wild night.The next morning at breakfast Ozzy came over and asked us where we were going,we said back to London to catch the train home,and he offered us a lift back to London.A few hours later we were on a train bound for Newcastle and the tour was over.

Port Vale festival was our next chance to see Ozzy,we went back stage to talk to him.After that we didn't see them again until the 'Diary of a Madman' tour in 1981.The concert i went to was Leicester but the next date was Liverpool,this one was an uncertainty until the last minute,Sharon let us backstage again and we got another chance to speak with Ozzy.Sharon was sorry that we had gone to Leicester.We told Sharon that we were going to follow the band around Britain and 'Talk of the Devil' tour in 1982.I was on my own this tour as Andy had joined the Royal Navy.I was working this time so i took my holidays from the start of the tour.The first concert was at St Austell, Cornwall where i got a backstage pass from Sharon, who gave me an all access pass which normally are only given to the crew and band members.After that show i slept in a telephone box because it was too far to walk to the station.

I went to all the shows on this tour and at the end went to the end of tour party at Liverpool.Then it was a year later at the 'Bark at the Moon' first concert of the tour that Ozzy and Sharon asked if i wanted to travel with them on the tour bus.Sharon gave me a few odd jobs to do and i was allowed to sleep on the tour bus at night.Sharon and Ozzy asked if i wanted to go to Europe with them,this was near the end of the British tour.It was around that time that they kept asking me to sign forms,which i thought were connected with Europe but later found out that Ozzy was planning to give me a job on the American tour.I wasn't suppose to know until nearer the time,but one night when Ozzy was drunk he let it slip out,saying that when we got to Los angeles i must get a tatoo on my arm.Everyone burst out laughing as Ozzy had let me in on his surprise,and then Sharon offered me a job.I don't need to tell you what my answer was.I can't explain how i felt,there were no words to describe how i felt.

I suppose that was how i got the job with Ozzy.After we had been to Europe,i returned home in December for a two week break.We left for America on January 7th, 1984 where we went on a six month tour covering Canada and America.It certainly opened my eyes to how popular Ozzy was over there.We played in arenas which held up to 20,000 people at one time,i couldn't believe the size.Ozzy had a huge stage show which took six forty eight tonne trucks to carry it round the States.I think there are only two places in England which would hold the set up,Wembley stadium and Birmingham NEC.The band took a break and i got to go to Honolulo,Hawaii,for a few days,this was also where they had their last gig.I returned to England in July.

During the American tour my main job was to look after Ozzy on stage where most of the time i had to wear a suit of armour to match the stage crew,who were wearing monk Outfits!

Back in England,i had a few weeks off before the next show which was Donnington '84 where people might remember me being stripped of my t-shirt on stage by Ozzy.After Donnington we went to Europe where the band took part in three festivals.After that i went to Sharon and Ozzy's villa in the South of France with them for a month.I have been at home now for a few weeks waiting to hear the arrangements for the next show which is Brazil,it is a ten day festival in Rio which promises to be a wild time.

I must say that this job is the best thing that has ever happened to me,and i can't tell you in words how much i enjoy working for Ozzy.

Tony Dennis 'the story' Nov '84.....
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Post by NicDots »

Wow, that was a great read, thanks for posting! :)
I always wondered how Tony got the job...
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Post by GUITARIDOL5682 »

Skully wrote:Wow, that was a great read, thanks for posting! :)
I always wondered how Tony got the job...
I was bored this afternoon so i improved my speed typing skills i'm getting faster...
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Post by Sarab »

GUITARIDOL5682 wrote:
Skully wrote:Wow, that was a great read, thanks for posting! :)
I always wondered how Tony got the job...
I was bored this afternoon so i improved my speed typing skills i'm getting faster...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Good one!!!!!!!!!
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Post by The Flying Dutchman »

GUITARIDOL5682 wrote:The next day we said that we were going to Canterbury for the last date of the tour,they offered us a lift.We went in a car with Randy Rhoads :lol: When we arrived Sharon had booked us into the same hotel as Ozzy and the rest of the band.A few hours before the show Randy asked us if we wanted to go shopping with him..
Great story Shaun, thnx for sharing!
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Post by GUITARIDOL5682 »

I had a look through the archives and i found this. I always like reading this story.
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Post by GUITARIDOL5682 »

GUITARIDOL5682 wrote: The next day we said that we were going to Canterbury for the last date of the tour
I had always thought that Tony Dennis had made a mistake saying that the Canterbury gig was the last show. Well i've just getting this ticket which has the date wrote on it in biro. So it must of been rescheduled from the 21st October 1980 to the 1st November 1980 making this date the final show of the UK tour.
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