The 1980s pop singer and actor Hazel O’Connor is recovering after what her family described as a “serious medical event”.
O’Connor was found at home in southern France on Sunday and taken to hospital, where she was found to have suffered a bleed on the brain. She was placed in an induced coma for 24 hours while receiving treatment.
Her brother Neil O’Connor wrote in a blog post that since being taken out of the coma on Monday, she has “been showing a lot of progress although, saying that, her recovery is going to take a while but she is tough and is responding to stimuli and to treatment. She’s receiving the best of care and I thank the French medical service there for taking such good care of her.”
Neil added: “I’ve already learned that she’s started to show her usual feistiness.”
O’Connor was a striking figure in the British pop scene in the early 1980s, after acting in the film Breaking Glass alongside Jonathan Pryce and Phil Daniels, and performing songs on its soundtrack. The album reached the Top 5, and two singles from it, Eighth Day and Will You?, landed in the Top 10 in 1980. Her solo album Sons and Lovers was released the same year, and she has continued to put out music ever since alongside roles in TV and theatre.
O’Connor had been due to tour the UK, beginning in March. An announcement from her management is expected soon regarding these concerts.