Ginger Baker is "holding his own" after being admitted to hospital in a "critical" condition.
The family of the 80-year-old Cream drummer – who underwent open-heart surgery in 2016 – revealed last week that the legendary musician was seriously unwell with an unknown illness, and now they have taken to Twitter to update fans on his progress.
They wrote: "UPDATE! Ginger is holding his own & thank you for all your good wishes. He is receiving visits from close family & very special friends. (sic)"
The original tweet about Ginger’s admission to hospital read: "The Baker family are sad to announce that Ginger is critically ill in hospital. Please keep him in your prayers tonight."
Three years ago, the sticksman’s daughter Leda – whose mother is Liz Finch – revealed he had an operation to improve his health and was on the "road to recovery".
She said at the time: "Ginger is on the road to recovery. After open heart surgery and a bad fall he is miraculously recovering well.
"He called the day after his surgery to say he was OK, albeit it was a rather disorientated and unintelligible conversation but he was at least awake and aware.
"The fall has resulted in swollen legs and feet which he is seeing a doctor about in the next day or so."
However, Leda – who has an older sister Ginette and younger brother Kofi – admitted she didn’t think her dad will be in a position to perform live again with his band Air Force 3 or anyone else for some time, if ever again.
She added: "Although he is recovering any performance in the near future seems over ambitious."
Ahead of his operation, Ginger opened up on what his options were and his hopes to play drums again on stage.
He said: "There are two options for surgery. Depending on how strong my old lungs are, they may do both. The doctor says he’s going to get me playing again."
Ginger founded legendary rock band Cream in 1966 with late bass player Jack Bruce and guitarist Eric Clapton and their rock/blues sound resulted in songs such as ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, ‘I Feel Free’ and ‘Crossroads’.
The British band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Ginger Baker’s ‘holding his own’ after hospital admission in ‘critical’ condition
