Chris Rea has been rushed to the hospital after extremely worried fans saw him collapsed on stage on Dec. 9. The British singer was performing at the New Theatre Oxford as part of his 37-venue “The Road Songs For Lovers” tour when the incident happened.
According to South Central Ambulance Service, paramedics were called at around 9:30 p.m. and the crew quickly reached the scene. Fans who were watching Chris Rea said that they saw the singer suddenly “falling into a clump.”
“We had an ambulance crew on scene and one patient has now been taken to [the] hospital,” the spokeswoman for the paramedics said.
Members of the audience further shared that they saw “The Driving Home For Christmas” singer shaking and something seemed to be bothering him. They saw him standing by the microphone with his guitar in one hand, but he looked uncomfortable as he kept shaking his left hand in a manner like something was wrong with it.
“He walked forward to the microphone and he was trying to grab it with his left hand but it was swinging from side-to-side, he was trying to keep it steady.”
Witnesses added that Chris Rea then stepped back before collapsing. It was learned that the musician was already on stage for about 40-45 minutes when he lost consciousness.
In any case, the 66-year-old performer had a stroke last year and the attack left him with slurred speech and restricted the movements on one side of his arms and fingers. Through therapy, Chris Rea was able to recover, but he was still on medication for some health issues like diabetes that require him to have insulin injections seven times a day, Daily Mail reported.
I’m at the New Theatre Oxford. Moments after I took this photo Chris Rea collapsed on stage. Fell backwards after shaking and struggling to hold the microphone. pic.twitter.com/1ziIcc8xga
— Cornish Darren Fewins (@Darren_Fewins) December 9, 2017
Fans used social media to express their concern for Chris Rea. One of them tweeted , “Feeling devastated. While watching one of my guitar heroes, Chris Rea, play tonight, he just collapsed about an hour into his set.” They also made an appeal for people to pray for the singer’s safety and wellness.
The Telegraph UK reported that paramedics assured supporters that Chris Rea is in stable condition . Then again, no further update regarding his health status is available right now.
Certainly hope you’re okay @chrisreamusic – get better soon! Singer-songwriter Chris Rea has collapsed on stage in the middle of a song, just a year after suffering a stroke. https://t.co/0ucQGaN9dG pic.twitter.com/iqjTx1C0kB
— Angie Greaves (@AngieGreaves) December 10, 2017
Meanwhile, Chris Rea is already near the end of his tour. He only has two shows left on the schedule – Dec. 10 at Brighton Center and Dec. 12 at the Bournemouth International Centre. The show organizers still need to inform fans if the shows will be rescheduled to other dates or if they will just be canceled altogether.
