Sleaze Roxx: Ozzy Osbourne Turns 60

Sleaze Roxx: Your 80's hard rock and heavy metal resource

Whether you call it hard rock, heavy metal, cock rock, hair metal, melodic rock, pop-metal, AOR, glam or sleaze, this is the place to find news, reviews, interviews, videos and more from your favorite 80's rock bands.

OZZY OSBOURNE TURNS 60:

December 3, 2008

Happy birthday Ozzy! Rock's Prince of Darkness turns 60 today, and to celebrate, WENN went hunting for the oddest facts about the heavy metal legend.

A man who is seriously living on borrowed time after suicide attempts, all-terrain vehicle accidents and bat biting blunders, Ozzy has become one of rock's true survivors - and we salute him.

Famous for his career rebirths - Ozzy Osbourne went from dyslexic teenage hoodlum, with no apparent future, to fronting the heavy metal group Black Sabbath. He went solo after he was fired and all his post-Sabbath albums were huge hits. Then, when his music career started dwindling, he resurfaced as a reality TV star - and the man behind Ozzfest. There's just no writing Ozzy off.

Here's a list of Osbourne facts that may have passed you by:

- Ozzy was named a Living Legend at the Marshall Classic Rock: Roll of Honor Awards in November. On receiving the award from Slash in London, Osbourne joked, "I hope I don't die on the way home."

- His successful Ozzfest tour came about after he was barred from joining the Lollapalooza tour in America.

- Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne's joint fortune is believed to be around $110 million.

- The couple's three children, Aimee, Jack and Kelly were all born 13 months apart.

- His nicknames include The Great Ozz, The Godfather of Metal and The Blizzard of Oz.

- Before they became Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward went by the moniker Earth.

- Ozzy has wed twice. He was married to his first wife, Thelma Mayfair, from 1971 to 1982. They had two children together. He wed his manager Sharon in July, 1982.

- His former bassist/lyricist, Bob Daisley, wrote Suicide Solution, a song about the dangers of alcoholism, about Ozzy. Osbourne always thought the lyrics to the tune were about late AC/DC star Bon Scott.

- The song landed Ozzy in legal hot water in the 1980s when the parents of a young fan claimed Suicide Solution had inspired their child to commit suicide. They sued the rocker but the case was dismissed. Ozzy was sued a second time when another fan committed suicide. He was cleared again.

- Ozzy has five kids - Kelly, Jack, Aimee, Jessica and Louis. He also adopted his first wife's son Eliot. He's a grandfather to his firstborn Jessica's daughter Isabelle.

- After he was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979, he formed Law and the Blizzard of Oz.

- He was arrested in September 1989 after attempting to strangle his wife Sharon while drunk. He awoke in jail oblivious as to why he was there.

- His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled in April, 2002.

- Ozzy famously bit the head off a live bat during a 1982 concert in Des Moines, Iowa, thinking it was a toy a fan had thrown onstage. The incident led to a series of painful rabies shots and a hefty donation to an animal rights group, which was appalled by the bat biting blunder.

- He's a vegetarian.

- Born in Aston, Birmingham, Ozzy is a fan of the local soccer team, Aston Villa.

- He had a vasectomy in 1986.

- He has sold more than 90 million albums.

- After leaving school he had jobs as a laborer on a building site, a trainee plumber, an apprentice toolmaker - and he even worked in a slaughterhouse.

- Ozzy has had several cosmetic surgery procedures, including a facelift and nose job.

- He wears Czech & Speake No. 88 cologne.

- He makes smoothies every morning for breakfast.

- In 1999, an action figure doll of Ozzy hit stores - it came complete with mini decapitated bats.

- His popular TV program The Osbournes scooped an Emmy for Best Reality TV Show in 2002.

Courtesy of www.starpulse.com