Black Sabbath had left the band. Walker, who was at that time fronting a band called Mistress, flew to Birmingham from California in late 1977 to write material and rehearse with Black Sabbath. On 8 January 1978, Black Sabbath made their only live performance with Walker on vocals, playing an early version of the song "Junior's Eyes" on the BBC Television programme "Look! Hear!" Walker later recalled that while in Birmingham he had bumped into Osbourne in a pub and came to the conclusion that Osbourne was not fully committed to leaving Black Sabbath. "The last Sabbath albums were just very depressing
Ozzy Osbourne and Osbourne's last appearance with the band (until later reunions), was in Albuquerque, New Mexico on 11 December. In 1979, back in the studio, tensions and conflict between band members were continually present. Osbourne recalls being asked to record his vocals over and over, and tracks being manipulated endlessly by Iommi. This was a point of contention between Osbourne and Iommi. At Iommi's insistence, and with the support of Butler and Ward, Osbourne was fired from Black Sabbath on 27 April 1979. The reasons provided to him were that he was unreliable and had excessive substance abuse issues as compared