Ozzy Osbourne appeared completely normal during his final conversation with Andrew Watt, according to his longtime producer.
The Grammy-winning Watt, who had spoken with Ozzy daily for six and a half years, described the shocking nature of losing his close friend and collaborator.
“Everything was normal, and the next day the news was just a giant shock,” he revealed in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. The producer worked closely with Ozzy on his final two albums, Ordinary Man (2020) and Patient Number 9 (2022).
Watt had been present at Ozzy’s ‘Back to the Beginning’ concert in Birmingham just weeks before the singer’s death. He described the experience as feeling “like a heavy metal summer camp,” with musicians from different eras of Ozzy’s career gathering together. The event reunited the metal icon with guitarist Jake E. Lee, who hadn’t seen Ozzy in 30 years.
The night before that final performance, Watt shared a curry with Ozzy’s wife Sharon Osbourne in Birmingham, bringing one back to the hotel for Ozzy. The producer spent several hours in Ozzy’s room, having what would become one of their last extended conversations together.
“He saw me in a way that I did not see myself,” Watt explained, describing how Osbourne had an almost supernatural ability to understand people. “He could see you in your good, your bad, and just in a way that you were — he was witchy like that. He often knew things that were gonna happen before they happened.”
The partnership between Watt and Ozzy transformed both their careers. For Watt, working with the Black Sabbath vocalist marked his transition from producing individual tracks to creating complete albums. Ozzy recognised Watt’s potential as a serious album producer and gave him opportunities to play guitar on the recordings.
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“He gave me the confidence, and he taught me so much about how to mix rock music and take it all the way to the end,” Watt said. The collaboration also provided Ozzy with renewed purpose during his recovery from a serious fall at home.
Ozzy’s technical knowledge impressed Watt throughout their working relationship. Despite his wild persona, the singer possessed sharp intelligence and reactive hearing that caught every studio detail. Ozzy taught Watt crucial mixing principles, particularly emphasising the importance of bass in rock music.
“Listen to Led Zeppelin and tell me what the loudest thing is,” Ozzy would challenge Watt, before revealing that the bass, not the drums, provided the foundation that made songs truly heavy.
The producer refused to say whether potential unreleased material from their sessions will be released. However, he openly mourned the loss of his friend’s distinctive humour, calling Osbourne “the funniest person ever of all time” and admitting, “more than anything, I miss the laughter.”
