*Lionel Richie is reportedly back in the hospital just two months after a frightening onstage health scare sent him to a St. Paul emergency room — and this time, the music legend had already told his audience what doctors said was behind his recent trouble.
The 77-year-old singer is hospitalized in an intensive care unit in St. Louis after performing Saturday night at The Muny in Forest Park, TMZ reported Monday.
Sources with direct knowledge told the outlet that Richie checked himself into a local hospital after completing the concert to undergo testing. Doctors are reportedly investigating possible slight dehydration, and Richie hopes to be discharged Tuesday.
The hospitalization follows EURweb’s June report that Richie became dizzy onstage during the opening night of his “Sing a Song All Night Long” tour with Earth, Wind & Fire in St. Paul, Minnesota, forcing him to end that performance early and go to a hospital.
Richie Told the Crowd About His Diagnosis
What makes Saturday’s development particularly notable is that Richie discussed the earlier health scare during the St. Louis concert itself.
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“Some things have been happening on this tour that kind of shook me up a little bit, because I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on,” Richie told the audience, according to the St. Louis American, which covered the performance firsthand.
Richie said he returned to his doctor looking for answers.
“I went back to the doctor, and he said, ‘You are suffering from dehydration,'” Richie told the crowd.
The St. Louis American reported that Richie drank electrolytes during the show and nevertheless delivered an energetic performance.
But by the end of the night, there was another visible sign that he wasn’t feeling his best.
Witnesses told TMZ that Richie appeared to struggle toward the end of the concert and asked his team to bring him a chair while he performed his final song, “All Night Long.”
He subsequently checked himself into the hospital.
June Concert Also Ended With a Hospital Trip
The sequence echoes Richie’s June 24 performance in St. Paul.
As EURweb reported at the time, Richie stopped during “Dancing on the Ceiling,” sat down and told the audience he felt dizzy and strange.
“When you are feeling dizzy, sit your ass down,” Richie joked from the stage. “And when you are feeling strange about yourself, sit your ass down!”
Richie attempted to continue before the concert was eventually stopped. His saxophonist Dino Soldo returned to the stage and told fans Richie was not feeling well and could not continue.
An adult male was transported from the arena to a St. Paul-area hospital, with subsequent reports identifying the patient as Richie.
Two concerts were postponed following the incident before Richie returned to performing.
EURweb also revisited Richie’s health scare in August when another medical emergency disrupted the tour. An Earth, Wind & Fire member became ill shortly before a San Francisco performance, forcing that show to be postponed.
What We Know — and Don’t Know — Now
There is an important distinction in the latest reporting: Richie was not reported to have been rushed from The Muny to the hospital by ambulance. TMZ says he checked himself in after completing the concert and is undergoing tests.
Although Richie told Saturday’s audience that his doctor had previously diagnosed dehydration, there has been no public medical statement establishing that dehydration definitively caused his latest hospitalization.
Richie’s representatives had not publicly commented on his current condition when TMZ and Page Six published their reports Monday.
For fans who followed his first hospitalization in June, however, the latest development is unmistakably familiar: another concert, another chair brought onto the stage and another hospital visit.
The difference this time is that Richie had already given the audience a glimpse into what his doctor had told him — dehydration — before finishing the night and heading back to the hospital.
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MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Lionel Richie Hospitalized After Feeling Dizzy on Stage, Cuts Concert Short | WATCH
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