In an interview with renowned journalist Eddie Trunk , guitarist Jake E. Lee made a bombshell statement in 2015, revealing how he was deceived by Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne .
Eddie Trunk begins the interview by saying that he can't understand how Jake E. Lee, who was involved in Ozzy's Bark At The Moon and The Ultimate Sin
"For the last time, so people understand, for the people listening: How is it possible that you wrote Bark At The Moon and don't receive credit or money for it? Did you sign an agreement waiving your rights, saying 'it's all right, I don't need any more money?' Is that what happened? Did you get drunk one night and do that? Or did you consciously waive your rights?"
In formulating his response, an intimidated Lee begins by saying:
"Oh... Let me see... Okay... The truth is... Hmm... This will complicate things for me if I reveal it and it will get me into serious trouble."
Eddie Trunk encourages him by asking, “How will telling the truth complicate things for you? Can’t you tell the truth? Did you sign something you can’t talk about?”
"Exactly, I signed an NDA, they can sue me," the guitarist replied.
“Ah… You signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement. But that was over 30 years ago. Tell me about it,” Trunk retorted.
And then Jake E. Lee reveals his version of the facts:
"From the beginning they told me that our agreement stipulated that I would receive a portion of the royalties from the songs I helped compose and record. So we're recording the album on a farm in Scotland, in the middle of nowhere, and no matter how many times I've asked, they won't give me the contract to read or sign."
“I’m there alone, I don’t have a manager, I don’t have experience, nothing, and exactly on the day I finish recording my parts, they present me with the contract to sign. And the contract says that Ozzy wrote all the songs, and that I have no right to anything, and that I can’t talk about it publicly.”
I told Sharon, 'But that's not what we agreed on.' And she replied, 'No, it's not.'
So I asked her, 'Why do you think I'm going to sign this?' And she replied, 'If you don't sign, we'll give you a plane ticket, you can take the plane, go back home, get in line, and sue us.'"
And according to Jake E. Lee, Sharon continued to threaten:
"And while you wait years for the process to move forward, we have your recordings here, and we're going to get another guitarist, re-record your parts, and you'll have nothing."
With few options and fearing he would lose everything, and not even have the opportunity to tour with the album, Jake E. Lee signed the contract.
Check out the interview (in English) here:
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