Post by Taxigirl on Dec 15, 2003 18:58:51 GMT
Rock star Ozzy Osbourne is breathing unaided for the first time since his quad bike accident a week ago.
The former Black Sabbath singer has been taken off a ventilator and has been able to speak to his family.
The accident, which happened at his home in Buckinghamshire, left Osbourne with eight broken ribs and a cracked vertebra in his neck.
The Osbourne family is also celebrating Ozzy's first number one single, the duet Changes with daughter Kelly.
Osbourne is currently staying at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough where he was taken immediately after the quad accident for emergency surgery to restore the flow to a damaged blood vessel.
Wife Sharon has told how Ozzy stopped breathing in the minutes following the crash and was resuscitated by a security guard.
But he is responding well to treatment and has been able to speak to Sharon in the past day, according to the hospital.
The singer has set a new record for the longest time taken to reach number one during a career, reaching the top of the charts 33 years after his first hit with Black Sabbath, Paranoid, got to number four in August 1970.
The previous record was set by Lulu, who took just over 29 years to rack up her first number one, according to the Book of Guinness World Records.
The Scottish singer's first single Shout reached number seven in May 1964 but it was not until October 1993 that she scored her first number one single, joining Take That on Relight My Fire.