Jon Ivar Kollbotn, singer with Norwegian art rock septet Major Parkinson, has suffered a heart major attack, the band have reported.
In a social media post earlier today which you can see below, featuring a photo of a smiling Kollbotn from his hospital bed, the band announced that the frontman was taken ill during a performance at Oslo's Vulkan Arena, and although he finished the performance, suffered a massive heart attack afterwards.
"He tried to play through the pain, and actually managed to finish the concert, but after the last song he collapsed backstage and flatlined," the band state. "Crew and band members were at hand to help immediately and call the emergency services. And due to an unrelated incident (a guardian angel troublemaker), police officers were already present outside the venue, so within minutes trained personnel were able to start treatment. All our love and gratitude at this point go to these near-divine beings of our emergency services – without the crucial work that you do this post could have been quite different. We won’t go into further detail on the events, but Jon was taken to the hospital and has gotten the best possible treatment by the best possible people."
Kollbotn is now recovering in hospital, where the band state: "Jon is ahead of schedule - awake, on his feet, and most importantly, he is lucid and his usual morbid and dark-humored self. At this stage, there is no telling how long this will take, and we will all need to have a lot of patience in this process. But both Jon, his family and we have high hopes for a full recovery – and a return to the stage – in time."
The band have understandably cancelled upcoming shows in Bergen and Copenhagen.
Major Parkinson have just completed a UK tour and released their latest album Valesa - Chapter 1: Velvet Prison.
Prog wishes Jon a speedy recovery.
