Ozzy Osbourne turns 59

It's hard to believe, but rock and roll's prince of darkness Ozzy Osbourne turns 59 today (December 3rd). The father of heavy metal and former Black Sabbath frontman never anticipated such longevity, figuring he'd succumb to his rock and roll excesses long before he was eligible for social security: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "Let me tell you, when I was 20 I was going, I'd go, 'I'm gonna die by 40.' And that was all right until I was 39 and a half."

Instead, Ozzy continues to tour at a pace that even performers half his age find difficult to match: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "I was watching 60 Minutes and there was a segment on Bruce Springsteen where they asked him the same question, and he said, 'You know what? It's fun. It's what I like doing. I like making them have fun and I like having fun for me by seeing them have fun.' And it's pretty true, you know. It's because I just love to see the kids. It's like a challenge for me."

In other news:

Ozzy Osbourne has raised $800,000 for a cancer program, by auctioning off such belongings as a $3,300 bat-embroidered coat, $2,625 skull-decorated sneakers and $5,250 round eyeglasses. Darren Julien, whose company Julien's Auctions ran the charity sale last Friday and Saturday (November 30th and December 1st), told the AP, "We had Ozzy fans bidding against these sophisticated fine art buyers, which you don't see every day. For the most part, the metalheads were outbidding the art crowd."

Other big ticket items were an oversized coffee cup that Ozzy often clutched while on camera in The Osbournes reality TV show, which went for $1,625; a dog bed given to wife Sharon by Elton John, which fetched $2,375; a sculpture by French artist Edouard Drouot, which brought in $10,500; a painting by Gabriel Joseph Marie Augustin Ferrier that went for $5,312; and Ozzy's prized pool table, which he reluctantly donated to the auction and which eventually brought in $11,250.

All proceeds from the sale will go to the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where the rocker's wife was treated successfully.
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