Producer and musician Andrew Watt has opened up about unreleased music he worked on with the late Ozzy Osbourne, revealing that the pair revisited some of the material shortly before the legendary vocalist’s final live performance.
Watt, who produced and performed on Osbourne’s final two studio albums, ‘Ordinary Man’ and ‘Patient Number 9’, discussed the unreleased songs in a new interview with Rolling Stone. While he stopped short of revealing specifics about the material, he acknowledged that some of the recordings were created for a particular purpose.
“There are some songs that we made for a specific reason, and yeah, that’s all I can say. They’re hard for me to listen to. I haven’t listened to them [since Ozzy passed.]”
Watt also recalled spending time with Osbourne listening to the unreleased material and making notes together on the eve of the ‘Back To The Beginning’ concert on July 4, 2025.
“…We sat and we listened to the stuff that we had made, and made notes. And that and the next day were the last times I got to see him. … But we had a beautiful listening session and talked about a lot of stuff. It’s hard to think about, but I miss him every day.”
The ‘Back To The Beginning’ event was intended as a final live sendoff for Osbourne and Black Sabbath, bringing the band’s original lineup together for a historic occasion. It ultimately became Osbourne’s final performance, with the singer passing away weeks later at the age of 76.
Watt’s latest comments also revisit the previously discussed possibility of a new Black Sabbath album featuring the classic lineup. That project ultimately failed to materialize, with guitarist Tony Iommi recently suggesting that Watt had been overly enthusiastic about trying to bring the idea to fruition.
In his Rolling Stone interview, Watt acknowledged that characterization while disputing that his enthusiasm was responsible for the album falling apart.
“You know me. I’m definitely an excited musician, person. … That would be a true statement. But that’s not why it didn’t happen….”
According to Watt, the idea originated with Osbourne himself, who wanted to make a Black Sabbath record that would include drummer Bill Ward, who had not played on the band’s final studio album, ‘13’.
“[Ozzy] was just like, ‘Let’s make a Sabbath album.’ He’s like, ‘We didn’t do an album with [drummer] Bill Ward.’ As Ozzy does, he gave me the marching orders: ‘Call Tony. Then you call Geezer. Then you call Bill.’”
Watt said he contacted Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler, with both expressing interest in the project provided Ward was involved.
“So I called Tony. ‘Would you wanna do it?’ ‘Yeah, that sounds cool, if Bill would do it, yes.’ Geezer, ‘If Bill would do it, yes.’ It was all about, ‘If Bill would do it, yes.’”
However, Watt said the project ultimately came to a halt after he spoke with Ward, who was unable to participate in the album for personal reasons.
“So then I had to have a conversation with Bill, and that was one of the strangest and funniest and coolest, at the same time, ’cause you’re talking to Bill Ward, conversations. Ward was unable to do the album for personal reasons, which killed the project.”
As for Iommi’s recent remarks about Watt’s enthusiasm surrounding the proposed album, the producer suggested the guitarist may have been joking.
“I think he’s just taking the piss. … Which anyone that wants to do that with me, they absolutely should.”
For now, Watt has not indicated whether the unreleased Osbourne recordings will eventually see the light of day. His recollections do, however, confirm that he and Osbourne were still revisiting music together shortly before the singer’s final performance, leaving the fate of that material an open question.
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