A legal battle concerning Black Sabbath’s early demos has been resolved, with all four members regaining ownership of the songs they recorded as Earth in 1969.
Last summer, it was announced that a compilation of demos recorded by Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward in 1969, when they still went by the name Earth, was to be released under the title ‘Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes’.
The tracks were recorded in Zella Studios in Birmingham, with a new release said to be overseen by Jim Simpson, the band’s manager at the time, with an initial release date of July last year.
That release did not materialise, and Sharon Osbourne spoke out against the project at the time, issuing a lengthy social media post in which she outlined the Black Sabbath legal position, which disputes the legal ownership of the recordings.
“As you know, the band do not want these tapes released, not least as they haven’t heard them despite you saying you would provide copies long ago,” Sharon wrote to Simpson in July. “You know that, as a band, Black Sabbath don’t take things lying down.”
Five months after going public with the demo dispute, Sharon announced on The Osbournes podcast that the situation had been resolved, with the four members of Black Sabbath – Osbourne, Iommi, Butler, and Ward – regaining control of the Earth recordings.
“We settled with Jim Simpson and the band now have their demos back,” she said (via Blabbermouth). “And all four of them own it, which is where it should be. All of that stuff should be theirs. So it all ended well. So, yeah, they own them.
“We’re gonna talk about what everybody wants to do with it, and we’ll go from there,” Sharon told her son Jack, adding that Simpson “did the right thing at the end of the day”.
While demos won’t be released as planned, Sharon did say she was open to putting out the Earth recordings at some point, depending on the band’s approval. “I just think it’s historically important, for music lovers of that genre,” she said.
“It’s special. And I’m just happy that it’s where it should be — with the band, and [they can decide] what they wanna do as a band, what they’re gonna do with it. So that’s great.”
It comes after the legacy of Osbourne was celebrated once again by Yungblud at a show in Birmingham earlier this week (April 23).
The Doncaster artist (real name Dominic Harrison) played at the Utilita Arena in the late Prince Of Darkness’ hometown, as part of his current UK and Ireland ‘Idols’ tour, which kicked off in Sheffield last week.
Harrison treated the crowd in Birmingham to a particularly poignant rendition of his cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Changes’. In the intro, the video screen showed some fans holding up a sign that read: “Ozzy would be proud.” The audience also chanted Osbourne’s name.
Yungblud performed at Black Sabbath’s final-ever show, held in Birmingham last summer, where he gifted Osbourne a custom-made gold cross. He subsequently officially released his cover of ‘Changes’, and “vow[ed] to play this song every night for the rest of my life”. Tom Morello, who served as the musical director of Sabbath’s last gig, revealed this year that Yungblud “wasn’t gonna be the singer of that song” – just 48-hours before he took to the stage at Villa Park.
Harrison paid tribute to the icon at the MTV VMAs 2025 last September. Speaking to NME in the summer, Yungblud said: “Ozzy was always my north star […] Ozzy was a character in my life who was a reflection of everything I went through.”
The pair had struck up a friendship after both Osbourne and his wife and manager, Sharon, made cameo appearances in Yungblud’s video for ‘Funeral’. Yungblud appeared on a 2024 episode of The Osbournes Podcast with Sharon and Kelly, too.
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