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Singer Jimmy Osmond suffers stroke during musical performance in UK

By Shelby Lin Erdman, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Entertainer Jimmy Osmond performs at the Orleans Hotel & Casino August 14, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

 

By Shelby Lin Erdman, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Singer Jimmy Osmond of the famous Osmond Brothers, and sibling to Donny and Marie Osmond, suffered a stroke during a performance of “Peter Pan” at a theater in central England.

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Osmond, 55, was performing as Captain Hook in what the British refer to as a pantomime, or panto performance, at the Birmingham Hippodrome and managed to finish the musical before being driven to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a stroke, according to a statement on the Hippodrome's website.

"He is grateful for all the well wishes and will be taking time out in the new year," Hippodrome officials said.

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"Everyone here at Birmingham Hippodrome has been deeply saddened to hear of Jimmy's sudden illness," the theater's artistic director and chief executive, Fiona Allan, said.

Osmond is well-known to Brits. In 1972 he became the youngest person ever, at age 9 to reach number No. 1 on the British singles chart with the song "Long-Haired Lover from Liverpool."

“Jimmy loved being a part of the Hippodrome’s well-renowned panto, and his portrayal of Captain Hook was both dastardly and heartwarming. He won the adoration not just of our audiences, but also of all our staff – we all send Jimmy and his family very best wishes for a speedy recovery,” Allan said.

Osmond has had health troubles before. In 2004, the film and television star had a stroke and told Parade magazine that it was "actually a transient ischemic attack that occurred due to a hole in my heart [a patent foramen ovale or PFO that doesn't close as it should after birth]," according to People magazine.

Osmond has starred in a number of musical theater shows over his career, including “Boogie Nights,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “Aladdin.”

 

Cox Media Group

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