Singer Morrissey Collapses on StageBy Simon Perry
Originally posted Sunday October 25, 2009 10:00 AM EDT
Morrissey, the 50-year-old former frontman of indie band The Smiths, spent Saturday night in a hospital after falling to the floor during a gig in Swindon, England, about 80 miles west of London.
The incident happened when he was completing his first song, The Smith's "This Charming Man" Saturday evening. Eyewitness Jillian Moody told the BBC, "He kept putting his hand up to his mouth as if he felt sick or ... perhaps he was trying to hide something, but he didn't look particularly comfortable."
After he fell, two members of Morrissey's current band helped him offstage and he was taken to a local hospital. Ambulance crews were initially told he was unconscious.
"Just after 9 p.m. [local time] we got a call to a 50-year-old who was reported to be suffering from respiratory problems and was unconscious. We sent a paramedic in a double-crewed ambulance," a spokeswoman for the ambulance service said in a statement. "When they arrived they found a conscious patient who was not feeling well at all. They made an initial assessment and took him to the Great Western Hospital for further assessment."
A spokeswoman at the hospital confirms, "Morrissey was brought in to the accident and emergency department. He has been seen by the medical team. At this stage his condition is stable." He will be assessed later, the spokeswoman added.
Morrissey ? whose real name is Steven Patrick Morrissey ? is currently touring Europe and has nine dates set for the U.S. later this year.
