Happy 60th Birthday Ozzy Osbourne! A Life In Photos

The Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne, has reached the milestone of 60 years of age today.

Born in Aston, Birmingham on December 3, 1948, at the age of 20 Ozzy joined pioneering heavy metal group Black Sabbath and the rest is history.

Despite ingesting enough drugs to kill a herd of elephants, miraculously Ozzy is still with us today. Here Gigwise presents a string of facts about the great man himself together with a photo gallery of his life at the bottom of the page!   

1. Ozzy was named a Living Legend at the Marshall Classic Rock: Roll of Honour Awards in November (08). On receiving the award from Slash in London, Osbourne joked, "I hope I don't die on the way home."
2. His successful Ozzfest tour came about after he was barred from joining the Lollapalooza tour in America.
3. Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne's joint fortune is believed to be around $110 million (£73 million).
4. The couple's three children, Aimee, Jack and Kelly were all born 13 months apart.
5. His nicknames include The Great Ozz, The Godfather of Metal and The Blizzard of Oz.
6. Before they became Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward went by the moniker Earth.
7. Ozzy has married 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. After he was fired from Black Sabbath in 1979, he formed Law and the Blizzard of Oz.
12. 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.
13. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled in April, 2002.
14. 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.
15. He's a vegetarian.
16. Born in Aston, Birmingham, Ozzy is a fan of the local soccer team, Aston Villa.
17. He had a vasectomy in 1986.
18. He has sold more than 90 million albums.
19. After leaving school he had jobs as a labourer on a building site, a trainee plumber, an apprentice toolmaker - and he even worked in a slaughterhouse.
20. Ozzy has had several cosmetic surgery procedures, including a facelift and nose job.
21. He wears Czech & Speake No. 88 cologne.
22. He makes smoothies every morning for breakfast.
23. In 1999, an action figure doll of Ozzy hit stores - it came complete with mini decapitated bats.
24. His popular TV programme The Osbournes scooped an Emmy for Best Reality TV Show in 2002.

A Life In Photos: