NEED TO KNOW
Andrew Watt is opening up about the loss of Ozzy Osbourne.
The songwriter and producer, 34, opens up to PEOPLE about the devastating loss of the late rock icon — who died in July at the age of 76.
Watt, who produced Osbourne’s final two albums 2020’s Ordinary Man and 2022’s Patient Number 9 and was the musical director for his 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame performance, says the Black Sabbath frontman’s death is a “heavy, heavy loss.”
“We made two albums together and we talked every day for seven years straight,” he says. “He’s one of my best friends, the funniest guy on the planet and my teacher.”
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Watt continues, “I am thinking about every minute of every day. It comes to me in my dreams. It’s something that I will never get over. I will just somehow learn to live with, and I’m trying really hard, but it’s still just really fresh.”
The Mayhem producer also recalls when he last spent time with Osbourne, which was at his hotel the night before his final performance with Black Sabbath at England’s Villa Park on July 5 that featured rock icons including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Slayer.
“He wanted me to come to the hotel and listened to some music that we worked on,” he says. “We ate a curry together, which he wasn’t supposed to eat because it was bad for his voice the day before [the show], but he loved curry more than anything.”
The last time he spoke with Osbourne, however, was the day before he died.
“We were just texting back and forth just same way we always talked. I think he said, ‘Hey, s—head, where are you?’ I was in France at the time,” Watt recalls.
For the three-time Grammy winner, Osbourne’s death is “such a loss to the world.”
“I feel like the world is less cool without him in it,” says Watt. “He was one of those people that was just a staple of joy and laughter and had the greatest smile for anyone ever, and was so funny.”
“It’s just really hard right now,” he concluded.
