Zakk Wylde: Musician, Songwriter, and Actor
Zakk Wylde is a musician, songwriter, and occasional actor with a net worth of $16 million. He is best known as the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and the founder of the heavy metal band Black Label Society. Wylde started playing guitar at the age of 8 and by 14 was working at Silverton Music in Toms River, New Jersey. He sent a demo tape to Ozzy Osbourne in 1987 and was hired to replace musician Jake E. Lee.
Wylde cites Randy Rhoads as his foremost guitar-playing and stagecraft influence. He left Ozzy’s band between 1995 and 2001, returning approximately 5 years later to play on Ozzy’s album Black Rain before launching his career with Black Label Society. Wylde and his wife Barbaranne have four children: Hayley Rae, Hendrix, Sabbath, and Jesse, who is godson to Ozzy Osbourne.
Wylde once lost one of his signature guitars off the back of an equipment-transporting truck as he was traveling between gigs in Texas. Reward offers and initial attempts to find the guitar proved futile until a number of years later when a fan bought it at a Dallas pawn shop and recognized the initials Z.W. Wylde bartered with the fan and exchanged two other Les Pauls for his long-lost guitar.
