Keith Richards Released From NZ Hospital

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was discharged from an Auckland, New Zealand hospital yesterday, after having brain surgery to repair damage the rocker suffered from a fall while vacationing at the Wakaya Club in Fiji.

Richards' publicists has put out a statement to inform press that he was going to be leaving the hospital. CNN reported that a joint press release from Rogers & Cowan and LD Communications confirmed "Keith Richards was discharged today from the Ascot Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. He will be an outpatient returning to the hospital for check-ups." The statement did not say how long Richards will stay in New Zealand as an outpatient. The 62-year-old Rolling Stone has been in New Zealand for the past two weeks, during which time he has his brain surgery (See Rolling Stone Keith Richards Has Head Surgery).

Keith Richards released a statement today, which was given to the media via his publicist. The BBC quoted the statement, which thanked "the doctors and the beautiful ladies who make painful nights less painful and shorter... many thanks, Kiwis." Richards went on to say "I'm pretty much at a loss for words to express my deep gratitude. I hope I wasn't too much of a pain in the arse - after all, it was my head that was fixed."

Earlier, Richards' publicist, Fran Curtis, had addressed rumors at Keith needed two surgeries to repair the damage done to his head (See Keith Richards' Publicist: 'There Was No Brain Damage').

The statement was made in response to an article run by the New Zealand Herald, which claimed that "the first operation was performed on the night of Friday, April 28," and that "medical staff feared for his life at the time." The New Zealand Herald also reported that the surgery which Keith Richards had on May 8th was "a craniotomy, a serious operation used to remove blood clots that involves removing a portion of the skull.

Keith Richards sustained the head injury while on vacation at the Wakaya Club, on a small island in Fiji. The incident reportedly occurred after Richards fell out of a palm tree that he was climbing. E Online reported that "shortly after his accelerated descent from the palm, he supposedly mounted a Jet Ski and subsequently suffered another accident," though neither story has been corroborated. Richards was originally taken to Ascot Hospital in Auckland, New Zealand, and released, though he was re-admitted after suffering from severe headaches (See Keith Richards Out Of New Zealand Hospital).

The hard-living, hard-rocking member of the Rolling Stones was one of the original founders of the band back in the early 1960s, and has been a mainstay of the band ever since. Since the accident, Richards' two daughters, 21-year-old Theodora and 19-year-old Alexandra, have flown to be with him in New Zealand, though, as the BBC reports, "spokeswoman Fran Curtis also denied a Sun newspaper front page story that said Richards' family had mounted a bedside vigil."

The Rolling Stones have been forced to postpone their A Bigger Bang European concert dates. The tour was originally scheduled to start in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain on May 27th and May 29th, respectively, and end in Cardiff, Wales on August 29th. The tour will now be postponed until June, according to Reuters. Full details of the rescheduled dates are expected shortly.

Keith Richards is no stranger to accidents. In 1990, Keith Richards punctured his finger on a guitar string, and the wound became infected. In 1998, Richards fell off a ladder in his library of his Connecticut mansion, which caused three broken ribs and a punctured lung. In both instances, the Rolling Stones were forced to postpone concerts.

[Additional Sources: CNN, BBC, New Zealand Herald, E Online, Reuters]