Rolling Stone guitarist Richards had brain surgery: Report

May 8, 2006, 0:45 GMT

Wellington - Rolling Stone Keith Richards, who was reported to have fallen out of a coconut tree while holidaying in the South Pacific, is believed to have had surgery for a blood clot on his brain, a New Zealand newspaper reported Monday.

Doctors were worried that the 62-year-old rocker would not survive, the New Zealand Herald said.

The paper said the operation was for a subdural haematoma, a blood clot that forms in the outer membranes of the brain, often from a torn vein, and it could be caused by a fall or other head injury.

It quoted an unnamed source as saying the operation was done soon after Richards arrived on April 27 in New Zealand from a holiday resort in Fiji.

A Rolling Stones spokeswoman reported then that the guitarist had suffered a mild concussion, but the Herald said it understood his condition was much more serious and that he remains in New Zealand while the rest of the band is in Europe preparing for the next leg of their world tour.

Earlier, reports that Richards had suffered a brain haemorrhage were denied by the band's American publicist, Fran Curtis.

She was quoted over the weekend as saying that he was in 'good spirits' and would join the rest of the band in Barcelona for the start of the tour on May 27. She did not know when he would leave New Zealand.

A spokesman for Auckland's Mercy Ascot Hospital said early last week that the guitarist had been discharged after being monitored, but would not say whether he had had surgery. A duty manager at the hospital told the Herald on Sunday that she could give no information about Richards.