Country music lovers are celebrating a special occasion today. The singing legend Alan Jackson has turned 60, and we are all sending our best wishes.

Jackson debuted with the song Here in the Real World and became one of the most prominent musicians in the country music industry. He is known for marrying two genres together – honky-tonk and pop country.

We know that the singer has received many awards throughout his career, but there are some facts about his life that not many people are familiar with. In honor of his birthday, we decided to share some of them.

He had a pet monkey

That’s right, Jackson owned a monkey named Peanut when he was a child. Allegedly, the singer also had a pet squirrel (or a spider, depending on the source).

He loves to eat pineapple and mayonnaise sandwiches

It sounds pretty disgusting but this is what Jackson allegedly likes to eat. This interesting fact came out in the 90s and surprised many of the singer’s fans.

His mother’s maiden name was Musick

This isn’t a big secret to Jackson’s loyal followers but it’s still pretty awesome. If he didn’t choose his all-American birth name, he would have been known as Mr. Music (with a ‘k’).