Australian legend Jimmy Barnes will undergo heart surgery on Wednesday after revealing a serious health setback.
Posting to his social media on Wednesday morning, Barnes said he received the “bad news” on Tuesday, that a bacterial infection he had been battling had spread to his heart.
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Barnes said the infection had spread to an “otherwise healthy valve that was replaced some years ago due to a congenital defect”.
The singer said it was obvious the setback would take him out of action for a while.
“I know lots of other people are battling even worse things, but it still feels hugely frustrating,” he said.
“As you can hopefully appreciate, this has all happened very suddenly so it’s going to take a few days for everyone to figure out what going to be doable with my upcoming shows.
“I’m really sorry for all the inconvenience this will cause but please be patient while my team works hard to figure things out.”
Barnes was booked to perform at the annual Summernats festival in Canberra in January and headline another leg of the Red Hot Summer tour through mid-February.
A show for the Great Southern Nights program on March 9 had just been announced, but may also be cancelled.
The news comes just weeks after Barnes opened the Mushroom 50 Live concert on November 26.