Veteran jazz singer George Melly is in the early stages of dementia, but, according to his wife, it hasn't stopped him performing.
Diana Melly told the BBC, "I first noticed about two years ago, that his memory was really pretty awful. He's always been, as it were, the absent minded professor, so a lot of it was not easy to spot, because he's never been able to change a light bulb or do anything that most of us could do. But his memory just got very bad."
Mrs Melly also said that the singer is fine when performing, and had no problem remembering the words of songs.
The 80-year-old singer, who already has emphysema and lung cancer, also sparked fears when he collapsed during a performance in Hove last month. He was kept overnight in a Brighton hospital with suspected dehydration.
Alongside his jazz career, Melly has made a name for himself as an author, journalist and surrealist art expert. A new report has warned that the number of people with dementia in the UK could top 1.7 million by the year 2051.
10:23 AM | 28/02/2007
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