Rock legend Ozzy Osbourne came surprisingly close to recording a duet with Madonna, according to his son Louis Osbourne. The proposed collaboration would have been on the song “Shake Your Head (Let’s Go to Bed)” by the band Was (Not Was) — but things didn’t go as planned.
Louis revealed on a recent episode of the Trying Not to Die podcast that the track was originally written for Madonna and Was (Not Was). However, Madonna ultimately didn’t approve her vocals for the final release. As Louis put it:
“So somewhere out there, there is a duet recording of Madonna and dad that has never ever seen the light of day.”
Instead of Madonna, the 1983 version ended up featuring Kim Basinger alongside Ozzy on vocals. According to Don Was, of Was (Not Was), Madonna’s parts were later remixed with Ozzy’s vocals — but she declined to sign off on it.
Don Was said they realized “about eight years later” that they had recorded Ozzy and Madonna on parallel tracks. The resulting remix was turned into an Ozzy/Madonna duet, but when they presented it to her, she refused to give permission for release.
The version with Kim Basinger went on to become one of Was (Not Was)’s biggest hits in the UK, peaking at No. 4 on the British charts in 1992.
Louis also noted that his father’s vocals weren’t widely credited at the time:
“They didn’t really push that it was my dad as well … I don’t know why. … They might have thought the label was like, ‘Oh, let’s market it as Was Not Was with Kim Basinger.’”
