JON OLIVA Almost Auditioned For BLACK SABBATH – “GEEZER BUTLER Really Liked My Voice,” Says SAVATAGE Legend

Legendary singer, Jon Oliva, recently spoke with Sakis Fragos, publisher/chief editor of Rock Hard Greece. In part 1, Oliva broke the news of a final Savatage record in the making and in part 2 he talks about the history of the band revealing he almost auditioned for Black Sabbath in 1987 for The Eternal Idol record and his brother Criss Oliva was also in talks to join Megadeth.

Oliva: “I'll tell you the whole story. [Savatage] had decided to disband after Fight For The Nightmare (s.s. you got the hint, right?). We were done. I had a plane ticket and some songs to learn to fly to Los Angeles to audition to sing in Black Sabbath because Geezer Butler really liked my voice. Criss would travel to Phoenix to talk to Mustaine about joining Megadeth. Then Paul O'Neill came along and told us we wouldn't disband Savatage because he would give us $50,000 and I'd kick my brother's leg under the table. He told us: ‘you’re not going to Black Sabbath, and you (Criss) aren't going to Megadeth. You're going to stay here and we're going to make a real Savatage album.’ To be honest, me and Criss didn't want to break up the band. We really enjoyed playing together. 

“Of course, I'll be honest, I think I would be the best singer for Black Sabbath, if you exclude Ozzy Osbourne. The demo they sent me was for ‘Eternal Idol’ and it had ‘The Shining’, ‘Ancient Warrior’ and some other classic songs like ‘War Pigs’, ‘N.I.B’. I knew all those songs anyway. I was sure I was going to go and blow their minds, until Paul came up with his proposal and I found out that Ray Gillen was flying to California in my place and he finally got the job! And you know what Paul told me? ‘So what; you wouldn't make any money if you went there’ and I said to him: ‘so what happened? I haven't made any out here in the last twenty years. We're talking about Black Sabbath here.’ Ray Gillen was a very good friend of mine. He had an amazing voice, I loved it. He was a man who cast magic. He got the job, sang on the record, then formed Badlands with Jake E. Lee and quit Black Sabbath? Are you crazy? Are you giving up on Black Sabbath? And then they got Tony Martin.”