Sharon Osbourne invites 12 year old metal guitarist to play Ozzfest 2027

There’s going viral, and then there’s being 12 years old, ripping Pantera riffs in a Guitar Center, and getting personally invited by Sharon Osbourne to play Ozzfest. 

Young Southern California metal guitarist Russell Watson just pulled off the latter.

A clip that’s gone viral on Instagram shows the 12 year old boy in a Phoenix Guitar Center, picking up a Dean ML and absolutely shredding a tribute to Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul. 

It happened the day after he’d seen Black Label Society, who took time to pay tribute to Dime and Vinnie Paul during the show. It was clearly fresh on his fingers - rapid alternate picking, wild Texas-metal attack, full noise. The kid’s in a flow state for sure.

Russell dedicated the moment to Dimebag, Vinnie, and his late dad Tim, who passed away when Russell was seven and was a massive metal fan. Pretty powerful stuff for a 12 year old with a guitar nearly as big as he is.

Sharon Osbourne clearly agreed. She jumped into the comments and wrote, “Russell , would you like to come and play OZZFST 2027 ? Let me know , Sharon Osbourne ❤️🎸”. 

Huge.

This isn’t Russell’s first run-in with rock royalty either. In 2024 he was pulled onstage by Lars Ulrich during Metallica’s Chicago show to sit behind the kit for “The Unforgiven”. 

He’s also one of the youngest musicians ever signed as a Gibson G3 Artist - a mentorship program for the next generation of guitarists. I don’t say this lightly but… kid’s a prodigy for sure. 

Comments under the clip sum it up nicely. “No matter how good you think you are at something, there’s always a 12 year old better than you at it.” Ain’t that the truth.

Good on the young legend. If this is where he’s at now, imagine him by the time Ozzfest 2027 rolls around.