Sharon Osbourne vs Ex-Black Sabbath Manager Jim Simpson
Just when you thought the legacy of Black Sabbath could be laid to rest peacefully there’s a brand new dose of drama that’s been injected into the lore of Ozzy Osborne and Black Sabbath. Taking you back decades here… but back when the idea of the name of Black Sabbath hadn’t even passed the lips of Tony Iommi or Ozzy Osbourne there was the band Earth. A blues band which featured the original Black Sabbath members and was managed by a gent by the name of Jim Simpson. And earlier this year (around the time of the Back to the Beginning show), Jim Simpson sent out a press release regarding a reissue of Earth’s “lost recordings” under the compilation name Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes. And Sharon Osborne isn’t liking this one bit.
So to end this squabble once and for all, Sharon Osbourne is doing what Sharon Osbourne does best – she’s taking legal action to stop former Black Sabbath manager Jim Simpson from releasing Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes. She argues Simpson does not own the 1969 recordings, did not pay for the original studio sessions, kept the tapes hidden until they fell out of copyright, and attempted to release them through a questionable label without offering royalties to the band.
Simpson has disputed these claims, calling them inaccurate and defamatory. He maintains he funded the recordings, legally owns the tapes, and intended for the band to receive royalties. He rejects the idea that he withheld the material to exploit copyright timelines, citing decades of work running Big Bear Records and organising music projects as the reason for the delay. Simpson says he remains open to collaborating with the remaining band members to release the recordings as a historically significant document.
Now, Sharon originally took the high road when she talked about Jim Simpson in an episode of her The Osbourne Podcast, saying:
“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. [It’s now] 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 has, of course, refuted these claims against him in another press release, stating:
“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 Osbourne issued another response to Jim Simpson, stating that he still owes Black Sabbath money and has repeatedly refused to let the band hear the recordings he claims to own, describing their integrity as questionable. She also released Simpson’s original email to Tony Iommi along with her own follow-up messages, asserting that her communications were not threatening but were simply outlining 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.”
So at this stage it’s really just a verbal slinging match between Sharon Osbourne’s Podcast and Simpson’s Press Releases. I’m not a legal expert by any means but it looks to me like Jim Simpson’s reasoning is thinly veiled. His history of refusing to hand over the tapes are questionable at best. There’s the matter of releasing the initial Earth press release which looked to fly under the radar whilst also taking advantage of the hype around Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning Show. The claim of inviting her for coffee is a bit rich given he knew she wasa on tour. Then there’s the legalities around the release of these old recordings which, if what Sharon Osborne says is true, looks like Jim Simpson is jumping into a bed of sharks. But, you know the “bird’s of a feather” saying which definitely applies here.
Anyway, my hopes are that Sharon Osbourne and Jim Simpson can come to some agreement in the future. It’d be really interesting to hear some of those unreleased Earth tracks – not only from a fan perspective but from the perspective of being someone who really thinks that Black Sabbath shaped the historical landscape of music.
That’s it for now.
