Sharon Osbourne, the wife and manager of the late Ozzy Osbourne, has released a lengthy response to Jim Simpson, the first manager of BLACK SABBATH, over Simpson’s plans to release an album of tracks from the pre-BLACK SABBATH days of Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward.

Sharon’s latest comments come a day after Jim issued a press release highlighting what he called “inaccurate and unfair criticisms” made by Sharon in the latest episode of “The Osbournes” podcast.

Simpson, now in his late 80s, claims to have paid for the recordings back in 1969 when Ozzy and the other three musicians were youngsters in a band called EARTH. He says that he has since restored and remastered each track and plans to release them on an album called “Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes”, currently delayed due to what “Sharon’s threats to sue”, according to Jim.

Earlier today (Saturday, November 15),Sharon shared the following statement via her social media:

“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.”

When Simpson first responded to Sharon’s original “The Osbournes” comments, he said that it was “a shame Sharon” had “decided to go all out on the attack without sitting down to talk about this.” He added: “It’s also very unfair of her to make such inaccurate and potentially defamatory comments.”

Simpson went on to say that he is the legal owner of the recordings, despite Sharon’s suggestions to the contrary. “The fact is that I did pay for the EARTH recordings, and they belong to me,” he said.

Jim also insisted that he gave the members of BLACK SABBATH an opportunity to be included in the process of having the recordings officially released, but that they declined.

“I approached members of the band about this on 24 September 2024,” he said. “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.”

Jim also disputed Sharon’s claim that “no major record company” would have wanted to be involved in releasing the recordings, with Simpson saying that “the label for ‘Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes’ is actually on Big Bear Records, the U.K.’s longest-established independent recording company that I have owned and operated since 1968.” Simpson went on to say that he was “in the process of relaunching Big Bear Records in a new distribution partnership with Trapeze Music & Entertainment Ltd, 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. They might not be what Sharon calls a ‘major’, but they are certainly not ‘little’. They are our new partner for the relaunch of all Big Bear Records, not just the EARTH album.”

Simpson added: “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 days. 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.”

“Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes” reportedly features three blues covers — “Blue Suede Shoes”, “Evenin'” and “Wee Wee Baby” — as well as two versions of a track called “Song For Jim”, with the name in the title “referring directly to Simpson,” according to Jim. Iommi plays guitar in the first version, while the second version features a rare performance on the flute. There is also an “Untitled” track and three more songs, “Free Man”, “Wicked World” and “Warning”.

Simpson added: “If we can finally release this album, it will be a great gift to the music world and to millions of SABBATH fans.”

15 November 2025

In response to Jim Simpson’s press release of 14 November 2025, I am enclosing his original email to…

Posted by Sharon Osbourne on Saturday, November 15, 2025