Sharon Osbourne shares emails with former Black Sabbath manager amid dispute over early recordings
Sharon Osbourne has released emails sent to former Black Sabbath manager Jim Simpson, who is attempting to release early recordings from the band.
The recordings in question pre-date the band using the Black Sabbath moniker, which they started using in 1969, and are from when they were briefly called Earth in the late 1960s.
Earlier this week, on the latest episode of The Osbournes Podcast, Sharon discussed Simpson’s plan to release the recordings, titled Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes, which she is trying to prevent from happening.
She told listeners, “He says he paid the bill for the studio, which he says was £500. He would have never had that money to pay for a studio in those days.”
Osbourne then theorised on why Simpson is planning to release the recordings now, claiming, “He’s kept it quiet for all these years because they’re now out of copyright, which is 50 years.”
In response, Simpson hit back at Osbourne’s claims that he couldn’t afford studio fees, stating, “How can Sharon possibly know what I could afford back then? The fact is that I did pay for the Earth recordings, and they belong to me.”
He also alleged, “I approached members of the band about this on 24 September 2024. The message I got back was that they didn’t want it released and wanted nothing to do with it. This included two very threatening e-mails from Sharon. But the band had every chance to be involved.”
Elsewhere, Osbourne claimed in the podcast, “He’s lying, saying he will give money to charity. He’s never said what charity or how much money.” Simpson labelled these remarks as “potentially defamatory”, before adding, “I have correspondence with St Basils, a charity for homeless young people in Birmingham, dated 21 January 2025, which clearly states that if Black Sabbath refuse to accept royalties, then we will pay them to this charity.”
Following this dispute, Osbourne has shared the correspondence between her and Simpson on Instagram, along with several screenshots of emails. She also disputed claims that his record label, Big Bear Music, was the oldest independent record label, and criticised Trapeze Music, with whom Simpson said Big Bear is in discussions over a distribution deal for the Earth recordings.
She wrote alongside the screenshots, “As you can see, my emails to Mr. Simpson were not threatening. I was clearly stating the facts about Black Sabbath’s legal position.”
In one email from July, Osbourne said, “The band do not want these tapes released, not least as they haven’t heard them despite you saying you would provide copies long ago.”
Osbourne then shared that “Black Sabbath don’t take things lying down” and said “we will take any action we can where their rights are infringed.” She then told Simpson that Black Sabbath will make it publicly clear they don’t want these recordings released, and would discourage fans from purchasing them. Osbourne also claimed he was “riding on the back of the upcoming farewell charity concert.“
In another email, Osbourne requested to see a copy of a contract that Simpson said the bad had signed that allegedly included management and recording. She also wrote, “It is not accepted that you are the rightful owner of these recordings nor have any right or authority to exploit them.”
Additionally, an email that Simpson sent to Tony Iommi was included in Osbourne’s Instagram post, in which he describes the recordings as an “authentic historical document that clearly demonstrates the quality of your playing, even back then, as youngsters”.
In the email, he tells Iommi, “Over the next few days I will be able to send you the cover artwork and tracks to listen to, and I’m sure that you will be pleased with the quality of the music and the artwork.” Osbourne claims that no tracks or artwork were sent to Iommi.
Simpson has not responded publicly to the emails published by Osbourne.
See the full exchange below.
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