Recommendations of the Editorial team
The legal dispute over Black Sabbath’s early demos has been settled – aAll four band members have regained ownership of the recordings they made in 1969 under the name Earth.
In June 2025, a few weeks before Black Sabbath’s “End of the Beginning” concert and Ozzy Osbourne’s death, Jim Simpson, the band’s first manager, announced that he would officially release the Earth recordings. Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward recorded these tracks at Zella Studios in Birmingham in 1969 – months before the quartet changed their name from Earth to Black Sabbath.
“The Legendary Lost 1969 Tapes” was supposed to be released in July 2025, but never came out. Sharon Osbourne revealed that a legal battle was raging behind the scenes between the band and Simpson over ownership of the demos.
Sharon Osbourne’s open letter
“As you know, the band does not want these tapes to be released – simply because you have not heard them despite your promise to send us copies,” Sharon wrote to Simpson in July. “You know that Black Sabbath won’t just put up with anything. If you go through with this against the band’s wishes, you can be assured that we will take every legal action available to us – here and in America.”
Five months after the dispute became public, Sharon announced on The Osbournes podcast that the matter had been resolved: All four members of Black Sabbath – Osbourne, Iommi, Butler and Ward – have regained control of the Earth recordings, Blabbermouth reports.
“We’ve reached an agreement with Jim Simpson and the band has their demos back. All four of them now own them together – as it should be. It’s theirs. It’s all worked out well. So yeah, they’re theirs. We’ll discuss what everyone wants to do with them and then we’ll see,” Sharon told her son Jack. Simpson “ultimately did the right thing. He did the right thing for the band.”
Historically important recordings
Even though The Legendary Lost 1969 Tapes won’t be released as planned, Sharon said she’s open to releasing the Earth demos at some point – if the band agrees. “I think this is historically significant – for music lovers of this genre,” Sharon said. “It’s something special. And I’m just happy that it’s where it belongs – with the band, who can then decide what they want to do with it. That’s great.”
