Andrew Watt has shared his memories of Ozzy Osbourne, and recalled that everything was “normal” when he spoke to the Prince Of Darkness one day before his death.
The Grammy-winning music producer spoke to Rolling Stone about his longtime friendship with the legendary musician, and shared that the news of his death in July came as a shock as he spoke to him on the phone just hours before.
“Everything was normal [the day before], and the next day, the news was just a giant shock,” he shared, adding that it felt like losing a family member. “He saw me in a way that I did not see myself, and if you talk to anyone that loves him or was lucky enough to be loved by him, that’s a constant thing.”
Watt worked with Ozzy on his 2020 album ‘Ordinary Man’ and again on his 2022 record ‘Patient Number 9’.
“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 and just had an incredible sense,” Watt added. “When we made all those albums together, he was recovering from this accident [a fall at home] that he had. And it was the first time that I was ever making music where I realised that music was something bigger than just making songs.
“It was giving him a purpose when he didn’t feel well and making him feel great and laugh and sing and dance and heal. Those two albums were incredible, and they, for me, are the reason why I’m here talking to you today.”
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He added that the Black Sabbath frontman was the one of the first to see him “as a serious album producer”, and “changed everything” for him by inviting him to work on the records.
“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,” he shared, also describing the late artist as “one of the smartest people I have ever met”.
Ozzy died around two weeks after his mammoth farewell show, ‘Back To The Beginning’. That gig took place on July 5 at Villa Park, in Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham, and saw Ozzy joined by rock heavyweights including Guns N’ Roses, KoRn, Tool, Slayer, Pantera, Metallica, Gojira, Anthrax, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.
He was later laid to rest in the grounds of his UK mansion during a private ceremony that was attended by Elton John, members of Metallica and more. His cortege had previously travelled through his home city of Birmingham in a procession attended by thousands of fans.
Speaking about the final live show, Watt told Rolling Stone: “The experience at the show was unbelievable […] going to the show and getting to Birmingham was amazing. And I got there and there was this big photo shoot, everyone was there.”
“It was just this great, fun thing. It felt like a heavy metal summer camp. That’s the best way to describe it,” he added. “And then we were all together every day, and getting to be with Sharon and Jack and Kelly and everyone… I remember the night before the big show, I went out with Sharon to have a curry, ’cause that’s what you eat in Birmingham. And we brought one back to the hotel for Ozzy.
“[We] hung out with him for a long time and talked. We had a couple hours together in his room the night before the show… This is hard to talk about.”
In other Ozzy Osbourne news, the BBC‘s delayed Ozzy Osbourne: Coming Home documentary has been rescheduled for next month, and Judas Priest have released their cover of Black Sabbath‘s ‘War Pigs’ with Osbourne for charity.
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