Morrissey: I couldn't be insured to continue tour
Singer Morrissey has told how he pulled the plug on his tour because of the huge medical costs stemming from his series of health scares, which included double pneumonia and a stomach ulcer.
The former Smiths frontman said, on top of his poor health, the bills meant he was unable to get insurance to continue performing on the dates.
He cancelled the tour a few days ago after a number of health problems led to him being admitted to hospital, after many shows had already been dropped or postponed.
Morrissey, 53, spoke about how he has been warned about the risks to his health of continuing to perform, and how he now believes he has hopefully been “saved from death”, during an interview with a Mexican radio station.
He had been due to play a major festival in Mexico but it was one of the many shows which have been axed.
Explaining the cancellations, he told Reactor 105.7: “I had to because of medical reasons, because I have had so much medical attention, it had soaked up all the insurance. So we couldn’t actually continue any more because we weren’t insured to continue.”
Morrissey said he had been upset to pull out of promised appearances: “I do feel it, I do feel immense sorrow missing the festival; the pain was just incredible. I just hope to God I can make it up to people – so I’m sitting here wondering how.”
The outspoken star has been fighting ill health for a number of weeks after being diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer and a condition called Barrett’s oesophagus, which can in some rare cases lead to cancer.
His depleted defences were then battered by pneumonia.
Speaking about his woes, he said: “I had a very bad time. I had internal bleeding and I was rushed into hospital and I lost a lot of blood.
“And they tried to patch me together over the following five weeks, but it didn’t quite work and I was on lots of IV drips for almost five weeks and each time it seemed like I was back to robust health I would go into decline so this is what happened with the festival this week.
“I saw the doctor and they said no you cannot, because I had lost so much blood and I became anaemic. But I’m still receiving ongoing treatment and I’m very optimistic now.”
He continued: “It almost became absurd the number of things that happened to me but everything just attacked me at once.
“And the double pneumonia, everything was a result of the fact that I lost so much blood, so the immune defences were very very low, and couldn’t cope with anything, so therefore the slightest gust of wind and I would have a terrible cold.
“So I have received treatment and as I say I have been in hospital. I’ve seen doctors constantly and I’ve been on many IV drips for a long time, so hopefully I will be saved from death.
He said he had been warned to stop performing but he enjoys it too much.
“I’ve been cautioned to, but it’s difficult because it’s very ingrained within me and I know it’s the best of life when you tour and you make music and sing - it’s the best thing you can do in life. There is nothing better,” Morrissey said.
