Barry Manilow has been rushed to hospital in LA "due to complications from emergency oral surgery". The 72-year-old singer was admitted shortly after performing at a sold-out show on Wednesday evening. In a message posted on Barry's Facebook page, his management team said it was due to complications arising from an operation he had on Monday. His next immediate tour dates have been postponed.
The star is due to attend Monday night's Grammy Awards, but it is not yet clear whether he will still be able to make it. He has suffered a number of health scares over the course of his long career, including having to undergo dental treatment after a benign tumour ruptured in his mouth in 1986.
"I had to sign a statement saying that if they needed to remove half of my mouth I would let them do it," he later said of the experience. "They told me I nearly died."
Barry is currently in the midst of his very last tour, titled One Last Time – One Last Tour. Last year, he reassured fans it didn't mean he was retiring. "I'll do shows and I'll promote albums if I make any more, but no more big tours," he told Billboard. "It's too much packing. It's 40 years – more than that, really – of packing and waiting for room service. People think it's glamorous, but glamorous is the last word I would use for this job…. I haven't gone sightseeing, ever. It's a job."
The New- York-born singer, who rose to fame in the 1970s, is best known for his hits Mandy and Copacabana (At The Copa). Of the tour, Barry added: "I'm trying to get in as many of the big hits as I can. Hopefully, people will remember them, but I'm going to do them anyway."