Kelly Garni grew up with Randy Rhoads and formed Quiet Riot with him in 1975. The bassist was fired three years later after a drunken brawl with the guitarist – whose promising career ended in a plane crash seven years later.
“I was inconsolable,” Garni tells Bass Player. “I couldn’t even go to the funeral. I just didn’t want to see that reality.”
He’d already given up playing and begun a new life as a paramedic. It took him years to get back to bass.
“I started playing again in my early 50s; I’m 68 now,” he says. “I got a call from Todd Kerns, who wanted me to come play with his band.
“I said, ‘I don’t own a bass – I haven’t played in 25 years. I don’t think I can do it.’ Todd convinced me, and I’ve been doing it ever since. I’m getting offers to play in bands, and I could; but I don’t want to.”