“It’s historically important for music lovers of that genre”: The legal dispute over Black Sabbath’s earliest recordings has been settled – and they could finally be released

The legal battle between Sharon Osbourne and Black Sabbath’s original manager over the band’s earliest recordings has been resolved, meaning their previously unreleased demos could eventually see the light of day.

Osbourne threatened Jim Simpson, who managed the band during the early years of their career, with legal action after he announced that he would be releasing early demos the band recorded in 1969 when they were still called Earth.

However, she has revealed that the matter has been resolved, with the original members of Sabbath – including her late husband – gaining ownership of the demos.

Simpson, who began managing the future metal icons when before they changed their name to Black Sabbath, announced he planned to release a set of songs the band had recorded in their hometown in Birmingham in 1969.

Simpson announced the album, titled Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes, in June 2025, just days before Sabbath were due to play what would be their last ever show at Villa Park in Birmingham, and less than a month before Ozzy Osbourne died. He said that he planned to release the album in July via his own Big Bear Music label.

At the time, Simpson said of the album: “These recordings clearly demonstrate what fine music they produced right from the very beginning. We recorded these tracks at Zella Studio in Birmingham in 1969, but held back from releasing them as their style was evolving so quickly.

“Now, some 57 years later, the recordings assume a greater importance, illustrating how these four young men from Birmingham, barely out of their teens, were excellent musicians and a fine band, fully deserving of all the success that was to come their way.”

According to Simpson, Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes was due to feature eight songs, including the unreleased Evenin’, Wee Wee Baby, Free Man and Song For Jim, as well as a cover of Blue Suede Shoes and future Sabbath songs Warning and Wicked World.

However, the album never materialised as promised in July. In November 2025, Sharon Osbourne revealed that she had contacted Simpson to inform him that the band members did not want the tapes released, adding she would take legal action to block Simpson’s planned album.

She added: “You know that, as a band, Black Sabbath don’t take things lying down and you can be assured that if you go ahead with this against the Band’s wishes we will take any action we can where their rights are infringed, both here [in the UK] and in America,”

Now, Osbourne has given an update on the situation during an appearance on the latest episode of The Osbournes podcast with her son Jack.

She said: “We settled with Jim Simpson and the band now have their demos back. And all four of them [the original Black Sabbath members] own it, which is where it should be. All of that stuff should be theirs. So it all ended well.”

She also addressed whether the songs would eventually be released, saying: “We’re going to talk about what everybody wants to do with it, and we’ll go from there.”

She continued: “I just think it’s historically important for music lovers of that genre. And then we got [the rights to] the pictures that were taken at that time too. So, that is all so important.

“And I'm just happy that it's where it should be — with the band, and what they wanna do as a band, what they're going to do with it. So that's great.”

Sharon recently confirmed Ozzfest, the game-changing festival she and Ozzy founded in the 1990s, would return in 2027 – and that it would take place at Villa Park, where Ozzy made his swansong just a few weeks before his death in July 2025.

Speaking on The Osbournes podcast in March, she said: “Ozzfest is coming back, now you have to plan these things two years up front, so we're looking at 2027, Aston Villa.

"We want to do two days at Aston Villa and then come to America. We want to hear from everyone where we should go in America."