AP Source: Saxophonist Clemons suffers stroke (AP)

NEW YORK – Saxophonist Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band has suffered a stroke.

A person who has worked with Clemons in the past confirmed Sunday night that Clemons had the stroke. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak on the matter. The person had no additional information on Clemons' condition.

Clemons is known as the Big Man in the E Street Band and his sax has been one of the most defining elements of the band's sound. He has suffered from numerous ailments over the last few years. He had double knee surgery and even had to perform from a wheelchair at one point.

But his health seemed to be improving. Just last month, he performed with Lady Gaga on the season finale of "American Idol."

He is 69 years old.

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Springsteen sideman Clemons suffers stroke: reports (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Clarence Clemons, the saxophone player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, has suffered a stroke, according to a pair of media reports on Sunday.

Reuters could not confirm the reports, and late-night emails sent to publicists for Clemons and Springsteen were not answered.

The news was broken by entertainment gossip website showbiz411.com, which said Clemons was "seriously ill" after suffering the stroke at his Florida home. Rolling Stone magazine said it independently confirmed the stroke, but not its severity.

Clemons, 69, started playing with Springsteen in 1971, and had notable solos on such tunes as "Born to Run," "Thunder Road" and "Badlands." He was dubbed "Big Man," which was also the title of a 2009 memoir he co-wrote with Don Reo.

Away from the E Street Band, Clemons enjoyed a hit single in 1985 with "You're a Friend of Mine," a duet with Jackson Browne. He also dabbled in acting, and worked with other artists including Ringo Starr, Aretha Franklin and Lady Gaga.

Clemons underwent double knee-replacement surgery in 2008, and walked for the first time in three months when Springsteen and the E Street Band played the Super Bowl early in 2009.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman)

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Stone Sour scraps tour after drummer suffers stroke (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Stone Sour has announced that the remaining shows on its spring U.S. headlining tour have been canceled due to drummer Roy Mayorga suffering a "minor stroke."

In a message posted on the hard rock group's website Tuesday, the band explains that Mayorga, who joined Stone Sour in 2006, suffered the stroke following the group's May 15 performance in Des Moines, Iowa.

"He's doing great and is expected to make a 100% recovery," the band wrote. "We apologize to all the fans and look forward to getting back out on the road with Roy in the coming months."

Prior to the Des Moine show, Mayorga told Billboard.com that Stone Sour was enjoying its time on the road and particularly having a headline run after being part of packages such as the Nightmare After Christmas and Avalanche tours.

"It's great, man. We're not constricted to any kind of time or anything like that," the drummer explained. "With some of the package tours you have to play a certain amount of time and can't go over. With this we can play as long as we want."

Mayorga's stroke led to the cancellation of five shows, including an appearance at this weekend's Rock on the Range. The group was then planning some time off -- during which frontman Corey Taylor and guitarist Jim Root are regrouping with Slipknot for summer shows in Europe -- before reconvening to play this year's Rock in Rio IV during September 23-October 2 in Brazil.

Meanwhile, Mayorga said, Stone Sour was already starting to eyeball its four album.

"We've definitely talked about that," he said. "It probably won't start 'til next year, but we all have little ideas rolling around in our heads right now. We don't write too much on the road because our headspace isn't really there -- at least mine isn't. For the most part we tend to write a little bit more in our off time. For ('Audio Secrecy') we all wrote separately and sent each other stuff over e-mail, then when we got together for pre-production we learned each other's songs and developed them as a band. I think that's probably the way it'll go this time, too."

Exactly one month before Stone Sour posted the news, the group announced on its website that bassist Shawn Economaki had "gone home for personal issues," and would not be joining the rest of the quartet on their spring tour. The band's trek was scheduled to conclude on Sunday in Columbus, Ohio.

Since its September release, Stone Stour's third album, "Audio Secrecy," has moved 172,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The disc's first single, "Say You'll Haunt Me," topped the Rock Songs chart for nine weeks beginning last October; it currently resides at No. 14.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

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