Randy Castillo
Photo: Sony

Randy Castillo, who played drums for Ozzy Osbourne from 1985 to 1993, died Tuesday night from a form of cancer called squamous cell carcinoma. He was 51.

Castillo was diagnosed with the disease in May 2000, said his friend of many years, former Ozzy bassist Phil Soussan. He underwent aggressive radiation treatment and chemotherapy at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, and by the summer of 2001 he seemed to be fully recovered.

He started working with ex-Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez on a new band and was in the process of hiring a singer six weeks ago when his neck suddenly became sore and swollen. Ten days ago, he was re-admitted into Cedars-Sinai. He was sent home Monday and died in his sleep at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"He had a flair to playing the drums," Soussan said. "He had a heavy right foot that was incredibly fast and his whole unique approach to drumming was just really powerful. He wasn't really good at copying other people, but he was really good at being himself, and it was very difficult for other people to copy him."

The son of a mariachi musician and a homemaker, Castillo was born on December 18, 1950, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He started drumming in his elementary school marching band and soon discovered he had a gift. His family tells the story of how jazz legend Buddy Rich once humored him by letting the kid play his kit. "Buddy Rich whistled and said, 'Wow, your kid has an incredible right foot,' " Soussan said.

Castillo's first professional band was Albuquerque's the Wumblies, formed in the late '60s. In the early '70s, he moved to Los Angeles and played in a variety of bands, including Mudd and USFA, before hooking up with Lita Ford in 1984 for her album Dancin' on the Edge. A year later, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee introduced Castillo to Osbourne, who invited him to England to audition.

He played with Ozzy through 1993's Live and Loud Tour. After Lee left Mötley Crüe in 1999 to form Methods of Mayhem, Castillo joined for the 2000 album New Tattoo, but a few dates into the tour, he suffered a serious stomach ailment and was replaced by Hole's Samantha Maloney.

Musicians enjoyed working with Castillo not only for his drumming skills, but also because he was warm and amiable.

"He always had a smile and positive things to say about everything and everybody," Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx said in a statement.

"I am heartbroken about the passing of one of my dearest friends," Osbourne said in a statement. "I will see you on the other side, Randy. I love you."

"He was the kind of guy that made a great friend wherever he went," Soussan recalled. "If he showed up to someone's house, everyone wanted to see him. It wasn't like he took over a conversation, he just had a really good vibe."

Castillo is survived by his mother and four sisters. Funeral arrangements are pending, but he will probably be buried with his father in Albuquerque, Soussan said.

"I wish this wouldn't have happened," he added. "All he wanted to do was drum."

• Ozzy Osbourne
• Mötley Crüe
• Lita Ford

The Runaways, circa 1976
Photo: Mercury

Though often ridiculed as prefabricated poster girls for male sexual fantasies, the Runaways blazed a trail for women in rock by launching a guitar-driven assault on pop music. Now, thanks to "Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways," a new generation of female rockers can acknowledge the debt owed to these underground sirens.

Produced and directed by former Runaways bassist Vicki Blue (now credited as Victory Tischler-Blue), the documentary features performance footage as well as new and old interviews with onetime bandmembers Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Cherie Currie and Sandy West, among others. The clips, many of which were shot by fans on Super 8 film and later sent to Blue, are bolstered by cutting-edge visual effects and an innovative approach to filmmaking that makes it "more like a dark ride than a documentary film," Blue said.

The film will be finished in September and entered into next year's Sundance Film Festival, which takes place in January. The response received from the festival will determine the release date and whether or not the film will make it into theaters.

Singer Currie, drummer West (Sandy Pesavento), bassist Jackie Fox (Jacqueline Fuchs) and guitarists Jett (Joan Larkin) and Ford were assembled in 1975 by manager Kim Fowley and released their self-titled debut the following year. The teenage lineup underwent several renovations, and the band eventually called it quits in 1979, but not before gaining a reputation for wearing trashy lingerie onstage. The lingerie, which was Fowley's idea, proved to be a double-edged sword: it won the band attention at the cost of credibility.

"Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways" is the culmination of three years of work. Blue, who has worked as a television producer/director for nearly 15 years, originally intended to compile the footage for personal posterity and send the tapes out as gifts to her former bandmates. While she was editing the film, several people nearby, who turned out to be Runaways fans, heard the music coming from Blue's edit bay. It then became clear that more than those involved would be interested in the band's story.

"Edgeplay" refers to the S&M term for pushing oneself to the limits of reality and fantasy, a definition that Blue said suits the experience of being in the Runaways.

"It's basically defining your own limits and how far you are willing to go within the confines of your own being," Blue said of the title. "The story of the Runaways is quite a dark tale, where things are never really as they seemed, ... along with the fact that we were only 16 and 17 years old and traveling around the world completely unchaperoned."

• The Runaways
• Joan Jett
• Lita Ford