Jake E. Lee has revealed that he was approached to reunite with Ozzy Osbourne by producer Kevin Churko, which led to the formation of his current band Red Dragon Cartel.
Lee broke with Ozzy in 1987 and was replaced by Zakk Wylde, when Osbourne began prepping for his 2010 album "Scream" he decided that he did not want to work with Wylde on the effort and opened the door to Churko approaching Jake about reuniting with the legendary metal vocalist.
While explaining his decade long absence from music and the formation of Red Dragon Cartel and working with Churko on their 2014 debut album, Jake told Eonmusic, "I did start to get a little itchy after 10 years, and I was jamming with bands every once and a while here in Las Vegas, and eventually, Kevin Churko, he initially contacted me because he was doing Ozzy's albums.
"To be honest, I haven't listened to Ozzy in a long time, so I don't know which albums he did, but I know he did a couple of albums with Ozzy, but he initially contacted me because he also lives in Las Vegas, about what it would take for me to come back and play with Ozzy."
Lee then explained that it was an old dispute over credit that prevented the reunion from happening. "Those talks didn't last long. I mean, basically, I said, 'Look, all I want is songwriting credit for the stuff I wrote on 'Bark At The Moon' - that's all."
But it was that approach from Churko that led to Red Dragon Cartel. Lee explains, "He asked me if I'd be interested in doing anything. He said, 'Just come into my studio, put some ideas down. I hadn't been excited about music in a long time, and that excited me, so I decided to do a whole album."
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