Sharon Osbourne has unleashed a long, pointed response to Jim Simpson, the first manager of Black Sabbath, after he announced plans to release an album of recordings from the band’s pre-Sabbath days as Earth. The songs feature a young Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, captured in 1969 when they were still finding their sound and identity.
Simpson, now in his late eighties, claims he personally financed those early recordings and has since restored and remastered them for an album called Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes. He says the release is being held up because of what he calls Sharon’s threat to sue. A day earlier, he issued a press release accusing her of making “inaccurate and unfair criticisms” on a recent episode of The Osbournes podcast.
Okay, stay with me here, this is a bit of a mouthful…
Sharon fired back by posting Simpson’s original email to Tony Iommi alongside her own responses. Her point: nothing she wrote was threatening. She argues she was simply laying out Black Sabbath’s legal position and correcting the record.
She also challenged Simpson’s claim that his label, Big Bear Records, is the longest running independent record label in the UK. Sharon pointed to Topic Records, founded in 1939, which still operates today. She noted that Big Bear is not even a limited company and does not publicly file accounts.
From there, she turned her focus to Simpson’s chosen distribution partner, Trapeze Music. She described Trapeze as an out-of-copyright label with more than a million pounds in debt across its divisions, run by director John Cooper, whose previous company Discovery Records collapsed into liquidation in 2018. Sharon also said Trapeze improperly made Black Sabbath material available digitally in the United States. Once Simpson’s lawyers were told the recordings were not out of copyright, they were removed. She says the band had already supplied a full legal opinion from Kings Counsel to prove it.
Sharon stated bluntly that Black Sabbath would never have approved any release through Big Bear or Trapeze, adding that Simpson has never offered royalties nor allowed the band to hear the recordings he claims to own. She also dismissed Simpson’s claim that he invited her for coffee in July 2025, saying she was at a soundcheck at Villa Park all day, while he was doing a paid Q & A about his Sabbath years at a pub for personal gain.
Simpson, in his own follow up, said it was a “shame” Sharon went on the attack instead of sitting down to talk. He accused her of making “inaccurate and potentially defamatory” comments. He insisted he is the legal owner of the tapes, that he paid for the Earth sessions in 1969, and that he offered the band a chance to be involved in the release. According to him, they declined. He also maintains that Big Bear is indeed the UK’s longest running independent label, and that his partnership with Trapeze is legitimate.
For Simpson, Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes is not just a side project. He calls it an important historical document, a look at four teenagers from Birmingham who were already remarkable musicians before they transformed into Black Sabbath. The album reportedly includes blues covers such as Blue Suede Shoes, Evenin’ and Wee Wee Baby, plus two versions of Song For Jim, an untitled track, and early versions of Free Man, Wicked World and Warning. Simpson says releasing the album would be a gift to music history and to Sabbath fans across the world.
The battle lines are drawn: Sharon says the recordings are tied up in legal and ethical issues. Simpson says he owns them outright and intends to make them public. Both sides are playing hardball, and the fate of these long-lost Earth recordings now sits in the middle of a decades-old feud that refuses to fade.
What do you think is going to happen here? Will we eventually hear this Earth Lost Tapes LP?
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