'80s singer and actor Hazel O’Connor hospitalised following "bleed on the brain"

Acclaimed singer and actor Hazel O’Connor is recovering following what her family described as a “serious medical event”, with medics placing her in a temporary induced coma on Sunday.

O’Connor was found at home in southern France and taken to hospital last weekend, where it was discovered she had suffered a bleed on the brain. She was placed in an induced coma for 24 hours while receiving treatment.

Her brother Neil O’Connor wrote in a blog post that since being taken out of the coma on Monday, she has “been showing a lot of progress although, saying that, her recovery is going to take a while but she is tough and is responding to stimuli and to treatment. She’s receiving the best of care and I thank the French medical service there for taking such good care of her.”

"She was taken to her local hospital where it was determined that she'd had a bleeding on the brain and that she should be transferred to a major hospital where her condition could be more effectively monitored. On Sunday things were touch and go and the next 24 hours would determine how her recovery may go."

"So, please, all positive thoughts, vibes, intentions are appreciated. I’ve already learned that she’s started to show her usual feistiness,” Neil continued.

As a performer, Hazel had hits in the '80s such as 'Eighth Day' and 'Will You?' and also starred in the punk musical Breaking Glass alongside Jonathan Pryce and Phil Daniels. That same year she won the Variety Club of Great Britain for 'Best Film Actor' and a BAFTA nomination for 'Best Newcomer' and 'Best Film Score.'

A striking figure in the British pop scene in the early 1980s, the soundtrack from the musical album reached the Top 5 in the UK. Her solo album Sons and Lovers was released in 1980, and she has continued to put out music ever since.

O’Connor had been due to tour the UK from March this year, with an announcement from her management released.

Describing her as "fighter", the singer's team said: "No one knows what progress Hazel will make or when. You could be thinking, Hazel should not be doing any shows in the foreseeable future, well, yes, that could be the outcome, we just don't know.

"We know Hazel is a fighter and we think she would like to know there are live shows coming up as something to work towards."

The eccentric talent previously resided in a cottage in Rathdrum, Ireland for a number of years. As a young girl Hazel travelled with her older brother Neil, now a successful record producer living in Montreal, and her parents to Ireland regularly to visit her Granny in Galway and her many cousins here.

Though the 66-year-old was born in Coventry, she is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after the Second World War to work in a car plant. She describes her father as a great raconteur with a love of music, dancing and singing and tells us about her close relationship with him.

Read Hazel's revisiting of her Irish roots from March 2001 here.