Sharon Osbourne has reached a settlement with the original Black Sabbath manager over the band’s early recordings, meaning their previously unreleased Earth demo can finally see the light of day.
Last June, the group’s first manager, Jim Simpson, announced plans to release Meaning: The Legendary Lost Tapes, A collection of nine demos from the band’s first musical composition, Earth.
Months after the release date, Simpson announced plans to release the tunes once again, but Sharon threatened legal action in an open letter to the music mogul.
The letter stated that the band did not want the demo to be released without first being heard and receiving royalties for their music.
Now, in a new episode of osbournes podcast, Sharon shared that all of the original members of Sabbath gained ownership of the demo. This includes her late husband and famous front man, Ozzy Osbourne.
Sharon began, “We’ve settled with Jim Simpson and the band now has their demo back. And all four of them (the original members of Black Sabbath) own it, which is where it should be. All that stuff should be theirs. So it all worked out well. So, yes, they own it. We’re gonna talk about what everybody wants to do with it, and we’ll go from there.”
He added, “I think it’s historically important for music fans of that genre. And then we also got (the rights to) the photos taken at that time. So, that’s all very important. I mean, listen, you (Jack) want those photos. Everyone of the band’s children and grandchildren would love to see (them)… It’s special.”
Overjoyed, she added, “And I’m just happy that it’s where it should be – with the band, and (they can decide) what they want to do as a band, what they’re going to do with it. So it’s great.”
Turning his attention to Simpson, he concluded, “He did the right thing at the end of the day. He did the right thing for the band.”
Originally, Jim Simpson had resisted Sharon Osbourne’s requests, sharing late last year, “I contacted the band members about this on September 24th, 2024. The message I got was that they did not want to release it and had nothing to do with it. It included two very threatening e-mails from Sharon. But the band had every opportunity to get involved.”
