Mat McHugh Hospitalised With Suspected Spinal Injury: Solo Tour Cancelled

Mat McHugh, singer and songwriter of popular Aussie band The Beautiful Girls, has cancelled his solo tour after being admitted to hospital on Friday with suspected spinal injuries. 

Currently making his way around the country in support of his solo album Waves, the frontman had been complaining of discomfort for a few days which increased following a show in Newcastle and he was later taken to hospital where doctors diagnosed him with a "massively ruptured disc in his neck and a chipped bone in his back."

Medical staff warned him that the injury could see him lose mobility if he was not operated on quickly and consequently McHugh has been forced to call off his future dates. 

McHugh took to his Facebook page this morning to announce the unfortunate news.

"To be honest, I'm pretty shattered on many levels about what has happened but there are two main ones: firstly, I wanted to get out and play the songs from WAVES after the amazing response we've had to the album and secondly, after making the album free, touring was how I was going to earn enough money to feed my family and pay rent for the next few months," he wrote. 

"A few people got in touch after my post last week, offering help and I think I'm going to need it – being an independent musician I haven’t been able to afford private health or other insurance which could cover me for my treatment so I'm going to have to raise what looks to me might be a big sum of money for this – more than making another album haha! Some friends are also looking at what other things we can do or sell to raise money to pay for the operation so I’ll let you know when that gets sorted out. I’ll get through this but right now I'm in a lot of pain and your support and all the great words I get from people means a LOT."

Those interested in helping McHugh pay for specialist surgery needed to correct his injury can do so by downloading his new album and donating a desired amount — click here for more details. 

All tickets to McHugh's future shows will be refunded.