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Vandross Not Breathing On His Own
Thu May 8, 7:45 PM ET Add Entertainment - E! Online to My Yahoo!


By Lia Haberman

Earlier Thursday, there seemed to be a bit of good news about Luther Vandross' prognosis--his publicist announced that the R&B soul man was finally breathing on his own after being felled by a stroke last month.


But hopes for a quick recovery were dashed hours later, when publicist Lois Najarian said the information was incorrect, and the singer still required assistance to breathe.


Relaying a message from Vandross' mother about the perceived improvement, Najarian initially told the Associated Press this morning that the singer no longer needed a tube in his throat to breathe. That proved incorrect, the publicist now says.


"There's been no radical change in his condition," his publicist, Lois Najarian, tells the AP. The 52-year-old remains unconscious and in critical condition in the intensive care unit at a New York City hospital.


The "Here and Now" singer was stricken in his Manhattan home April 16. Vandross wasn't discovered until hours later and was then rushed to Weill-Cornell Medical College, where he was listed in critical but stable condition.


According to his manager, Vandross' convalescence has been slow, hampered by a bout of pneumonia that caused a buildup of fluid in his lungs and labored breathing.


As a result, doctors were forced to perform a tracheotomy last week, inserting a tube through an opening in Vandross' throat to help him breathe easier.