-
Steven Tyler, Aerosmith lead singer - Source: Reuters
Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler has broken his shoulder after
falling off the stage during a concert on the veteran rock band's
ill-starred summer tour, an insider said on Friday.
Tyler, 61, also received stitches in his head and back following
Thursday's mishap in South Dakota, according to a Twitter message
sent by Billie Perry, the wife of Aerosmith guitarist Joe
Perry.
"Yes he is very sore," she wrote, adding that there was no word
yet on when the tour would resume.
Tyler accidentally stepped backward off a catwalk while performing
Love in an Elevator for thousands of motorbike aficionados
attending an annual gathering at Buffalo Chip Campground in the
town of Sturgis.
The concert, at the midway point when the accident occurred,
was stopped, and Tyler was airlifted to a hospital.
Perry's Twitter message said he would see his own doctor soon, and
that his bandmates have returned to their Boston base.
The band was forced last month to postpone seven shows after Tyler
hurt his leg muscle. But the trek was troubled before it even
kicked off almost two months ago.
Guitarist Brad Whitford, 57, missed the first few shows while
recovering from surgery after hitting his head while getting out of
his Ferrari. Then, bass player Tom Hamilton, a 57-year-old cancer
survivor, left the tour to undergo what a spokeswoman described as
"noninvasive surgery." He has not yet returned.
Aerosmith rose to fame in the early 1970s staking their claim as
America's answer to the Rolling Stones. Tyler, who models his stage
swagger on Mick Jagger, teamed with Perry to write such memorable
tunes as Walk This Way, Back in the Saddle and Same Old Song and
Dance.
But their fortunes had faded by 1979 when heavy drug use splintered
the band. Aerosmith enjoyed an unlikely resurgence in 1986 when the
hip-hop trio Run DMC covered Walk This Way, a pioneering
combination of rock and rap.
The song's success prompted the band to get clean and hit the
comeback trail with the help of outside songwriters and popular
music videos.
