SHARON OSBOURNE & Ex-BLACK SABBATH Manager JIM SIMPSON Duke It Out Over Pre-SABBATH Recordings

Before there was Black Sabbath, there was Earth – the blues rock band featuring everyone in Black Sabbath‘s original lineup. Former Earth manager Jim Simpson sent out a press release regarding a reissue of Earth‘s “lost” recordings under the compilation name Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes, conspicuously right around when the Back To The Beginning show was happening. None of this is sitting well Sharon Osbourne.

It’s a pretty lengthy story, so here’s the quick recap:

• Sharon Osbourne is threatening legal action to stop former Black Sabbath manager Jim Simpson from releasing Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes, claiming he doesn’t own the early recordings and is trying to profit off the band without them.
• Sharon argues Simpson didn’t pay for the original 1969 studio sessions, kept the tapes hidden until they were out of copyright, and partnered with a dubious label to release them without offering royalties.
• Simpson fired back in a detailed press release, saying Sharon‘s claims are inaccurate and defamatory—insisting he did fund the recordings, legally owns them, and always intended for the band to receive royalties.
• He also disputes her portrayal of his career and motives, saying he’s spent decades running Big Bear Records, managing artists, and organizing festivals, which delayed the tapes’ release — not a scheme to wait out copyright.
• Simpson says he’s still open to working with the band and wants the recordings released properly as an important historical document showing the roots of what became Black Sabbath.

Sharon originally slammed Simpson in an episode of The Osbourne Podcast, saying in part: “He could have had it so differently. He could have come to us with the tapes. He would have made a lot of money. And Sabbath would have done well. But you cannot take this and do this to Sabbath again. [This would be] the second time it would have happened to them.

“And I am putting it out there to every Sabbath fan. If these tapes come out, please don’t buy them. Don’t support him, because he’s taking 100%. He’s lying and saying that he will give money to charity. He’s never said what charity or how much money. And what I want to do is just say to him, let it go to a proper record company. It can be properly distributed, properly produced. You will get money. Don’t do this.

“…And he is going to distribute it from his office, Big Bear Records, which isn’t even a limited company. He will take people’s money and post out the stuff. And it’s like, how dare you put these guys at the age they are at in that position again where you’re stealing from them.”

Simpson denied all claims against him a press release, also noting that he reached out to Sharon to get coffee and never received a response: “In my email to Sharon on 4 July 2025, when she was in Birmingham, I suggested it might be fruitful for her and I to meet for coffee to discuss this issue. If they want to strike a deal with me to launch this album, I would therefore be delighted to discuss that with them.”

“My reason for launching this album now is because it will become a crucial segment of music history. It contains recordings that clearly demonstrate what fine music Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill were producing right from the very beginning in their pre-Sabbath says. It shows how these four young men from Birmingham, barely out of their teens, were already remarkable musicians when they existed as Earth, and that they fully deserved all the success that was to come their way as Black Sabbath.”

Sharon has once again responded to Simpson, pretty much saying that he owes the band money anyway and that Simpson has “continuously refused to let Black Sabbath hear the recordings that he claims are his. Their integrity is dubious”: “In response to Jim Simpson‘s press release of 14 November 2025, I am enclosing his original email to Tony Iommi and my subsequent emails to Mr. Simpson. As you can see, my emails to Mr. Simpson were not threatening. I was clearly stating the facts about Black Sabbath‘s legal position.

“Regarding his claim that Big Bear Records is the ‘longest-running independent record label in the UK, this is a false claim. ‘Topic Records’ is a British folk music label. It began as an offshoot of the Workers’ Music Association in 1939, making it the oldest independent record label in the world. It still operates today. Big Bear is not even a Limited company and does not file open accounts in public.

“Simpson also states that he is ‘….in the process of relaunching Big Bear Records in a new distribution partnership with Trapeze Music & Entertainment Ltd (director being John Cooper), a well-established company with a huge catalogue including the likes of Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Marlene Dietrich, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Digby Fairweather and hundreds of other artists.’ I seriously doubt that the artists he mentions, or their estates, would have authorized them to be sold in the USA.

“Let it be known that Trapeze Music is an ‘out-of-copyright’ UK based label that is in debt for £539,000 and the entertainment division is in debt for £1.442 million. A previous entity under the Trapeze banner, with the director, (being John Cooper), was Discovery Records Limited, which went into liquidation in 2018 with an estimated deficiency of £1,407,388. These artist recordings he mentions appear NOT to be out of copyright in the USA, but Trapeze sells through a us domestic import distributor called MVD who they claim inadvertently put the Black Sabbath recordings online digitally in the USA and then quickly withdraw them when Simpson’s lawyers were told the Black Sabbath material is not out of copyright, despite the fact they had agreed not to release them to the public without giving us 14 days prior notice.’

“A full legal opinion from Kings Council was provided to their UK lawyer. Trapeze’s owner previously ran several companies that ended up in bankruptcy. We would never have allowed any Black Sabbath product to be released through Big Bear Records or Trapeze Music, and at no time did Simpson ever offer the band royalties, and he has continuously refused to let Black Sabbath hear the recordings that he claims are his. Their integrity is dubious.

“In closing, Mr. Simpson may claim that he invited me to have coffee with him on 4 July 2025 but I was out of contact which he well knew as I was at Villa Park at soundcheck all day, and I later heard that Mr. Simpson was busy that day doing a Q&A about his time managing Black Sabbath from ’68-’70 at a pub called ‘Ye Olde Foundry’ in Dudley for personal commercial gain.”