Early career Daisley began playing guitar at age 13 and went on to bass at 14. His rapid progress won him local acclaim, especially through his work with guitarist Dennis Wilson with The Powerpact and Mecca; Mecca's only single release "Black Sally" became an underground hit and was covered by
Human Instinct on their
Stoned Guitar album. Daisley and Wilson then formed
Kahvas Jute with Tamam Shud members Tim Gaze and Dannie Davidson. They released one album,
Wide Open, on Infinity Records in 1971. Daisley came to international notice as a bass player and member of the English blues band
Chicken Shack in 1972, before going on to play with
Mungo Jerry in 1973 and on their 1974 album
Long-Legged Woman Dressed in Black. After this he co-formed
Widowmaker, contributing to two albums – 1975's
self-titled debut and
Too Late to Cry in 1977. The same year he joined
Ritchie Blackmore's band
Rainbow and later played on tracks of the ''
Long Live Rock 'n' Roll'' album. He remained with Rainbow until 1979 when he was replaced by Blackmore's ex-
Deep Purple bandmate
Roger Glover.
Ozzy Osbourne In October 1979, Daisley met
Ozzy Osbourne at a venue called the Music Machine in
Camden Town, after Osbourne had been fired from the band
Black Sabbath. The pair hit it off and Osbourne suggested they form a band. They were soon joined by former
Quiet Riot guitarist
Randy Rhoads, whom Osbourne had recently met in Los Angeles. The trio hired ex-
Uriah Heep drummer
Lee Kerslake and settled on the band name
The Blizzard of Ozz, though the new band's management soon decided to bill the act simply as "Ozzy Osbourne". Daisley contributed bass, songwriting and co-production on the group's first album,
Blizzard of Ozz, and co-wrote all of the material on the follow-up album
Diary of a Madman but both he and drummer
Lee Kerslake were fired before the second album was released. Bassist
Rudy Sarzo received credit on
Diary of a Madman, though he did not perform on it. Daisley and Kerslake later successfully sued
Don Arden and
Jet Records for performance royalties and to have their performance credits added to
Diary of a Madman. Litigation continued for many years until Daisley and Kerslake sued the Osbournes (who unknown to Daisley and Kerslake had purchased the early albums' publishing rights) for unpaid performance royalties and accreditation.
Sharon Osbourne, without Ozzy's knowledge, responded by re-issuing new CD versions of both albums with the bass and drum tracks re-recorded by
Robert Trujillo and
Mike Bordin in 2002. In 2003, Daisley and Kerslake's lawsuit was dismissed by the
United States District Court in Los Angeles. This dismissal was upheld by the
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In 2011, Sony Legacy re-released both albums with Daisley and Kerslake's original bass and drum parts restored. Daisley continued to return to the Osbourne camp to write and record for several albums throughout the 1980s, playing on and/or writing for
Bark at the Moon (1983),
The Ultimate Sin (1986), and
No Rest for the Wicked (1988). He maintained his working relationship with the Osbournes up until 1991's
No More Tears album, which featured his bass playing on all tracks.
Mike Inez (who later joined
Alice in Chains) appeared in the album's promotional videos.
Uriah Heep After leaving Osbourne's band the first time, Daisley joined the reformed
Uriah Heep in 1981 alongside Kerslake and remained with them until the following year, recording two albums,
Abominog and
Head First, both of which helped to rekindle some interest in the band.
Gary Moore During his on-off involvement with Osbourne, Daisley also recorded many albums with
Gary Moore and toured extensively with him.
Black Sabbath In 1986, he was approached by producer
Jeff Glixman to play on the
Black Sabbath album
The Eternal Idol, as the band's actual bass player
Dave Spitz had personal commitments to attend to. However, Spitz was credited on the final release along with him. Daisley was offered the bassist's spot in Black Sabbath but turned it down due to his commitment to Gary Moore, with whom he continued to work from time to time until the guitarist's death in 2011.
Other contributions Since the 1980s, Daisley has contributed to a wealth of recordings as bassist, lyricist and producer, including albums by
Yngwie Malmsteen,
Takara,
Bill Ward, Black Sabbath and
Jeff Watson of Night Ranger. Daisley and Watson teamed up again and formed
Mother's Army with vocalist
Joe Lynn Turner and drummer
Carmine Appice. In 2003, following his second and unsuccessful suit against Ozzy Osbourne, he teamed up with Lee Kerslake,
Steve Morse of
Deep Purple and Australian rock singer
Jimmy Barnes to record an album under the name Living Loud. Six of the album's eleven tracks were covers from
Blizzard of Ozz and
Diary of a Madman.
Don Airey played keyboards on the Living Loud album. On 7 February 2003 Daisley recorded a live show at The Basement in Sydney with Australian blues band The Hoochie Coochie Men, for a live DVD and CD release. Featured were former Deep Purple organist
Jon Lord and Jimmy Barnes. In 2007, The Hoochie Coochie Men released the studio album
Danger: White Men Dancing, also featuring Jon Lord. In September 2014, Daisley was hired to produce the debut album of Adelaide-based hard rock band Cherry Grind.
Book Daisley's autobiography
For Facts Sake was published in August 2013. ==Gear==