Morrissey lives! ‘Reports of my death have been greatly understated,’ singer says

Nearly a week after news broke that Morrissey was hospitalized in Michigan with what would turn out to be a bleeding ulcer, the former Smiths frontman has made his first comments on the matter in his customary form: a wry, written statement issued to fansite and quasi-official mouthpiece True To You.

In the short note, Moz claims to have suffered not just a bleeding ulcer but a concussion and Barrett’s esopagus — a condition in which the esophagus is damaged by stomach acid — and that now “there are no no known ailments left for me to try.”

Morrissey notes that he is “fully determined” to restart his tour on Feb. 9 in Las Vegas (see full dates), and that he is similarly determined to make up a canceled concert in Flint, Mich., “if it kills me.” Last weekend’s hospitalization forced the postponement of eight concerts that the singer’s reps have said will be made up, plus the cancellation of the Flint show.

Read Moz’s full statement below.

And in totally unrelated news, True To You also reports that EMI this March will release a remastered “The Last of the Famous International Playboys” as a single in vinyl and CD formats.

Message from Morrissey:

The reports of my death have been greatly understated. Once admitted to the William Beaumont Hospital at Royal Oak in Michigan, I received treatment for concussion, a bleeding ulcer, and Barrett’s esophagus. The positive from all of this is that there are now no known ailments left for me to try.

I am fully determined to resume the tour on February 9 at the Chelsea Ballroom in Las Vegas. If there’s an audience of any kind in attendance, I just might die with a smile on my face, after all. If I am not there, I shall probably never again be anywhere.

Equally, I am determined to play Flint (Michigan) if it kills me (which, on the face of it, it almost has.)

Thank you to everyone present at both Brooklyn (New York) and Melbourne (Australia) during recent weeks for two of the best nights of what might charitably be termed my “career”. My debt to you will outlive time itself.

pause at my headstone,

MORRISSEY
31 January 2013.

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS:

• Morrissey postpones 6 more U.S. concerts after being diagnosed with bleeding ulcer
• Morrissey hospitalized in Michigan with ‘suspected bladder infection’
• Morrissey scrubs concerts in Flint, Chicago, Minneapolis over ‘band member illness’
• Morrissey to play ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ next week on eve of U.S. tour
• Morrissey reschedules U.S. tour, adds 8 dates, replaces Stooges with Patti Smith in L.A.
• Morrissey cancels remainder of U.S. tour over ailing mother, promises to reschedule