British rocker Ozzy Osbourne fractured eight ribs and a vertebra in his neck in a bike crash on his English country estate, but doctors said today he was comfortable and stable in hospital.
Osbourne, notorious for biting the head off a bat in one of his wildest stage concerts, underwent emergency surgery at the Wexham Park Hospital in southern England overnight after the crash on an all-terrain bike at his estate in Buckinghamshire.
"Mr Ozzy Osbourne was brought in yesterday following an accident at home," Consultant Dick Jack told reporters outside the hospital early today.
"He had a fractured left collarbone, he had some damage to the blood vessel that lies underneath it, he had eight fractured ribs on the left side and in addition to that he has a small, entirely stable fracture of one of the vertebrae in his neck."
The 55-year-old heavy metal rocker was injured while riding a quad bike during a day off from promoting his new single, a duet with his daughter Kelly entitled "Changes."
His wife Sharon made a 5,000 mile (8,000 km) dash across the Atlantic today to be at his hospital bedside.
She caught the first flight from Los Angeles to London when she heard the news and arrived at London's Heathrow airport distressed.
"I've not heard how he is since last night," she told reporters. "I haven't managed to speak to him on the phone and I am going straight to hospital to see him."
"I heard about the accident from my husband's security guard. Apparently he was on his quad bike when he hit something and fell and the bike landed on top of him."