Singer Cummings hurt in L.A. crash

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This article was published 16/05/2018 (2677 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadian music legend Burton Cummings says he is recovering from injuries sustained after a car went through a red light Sunday afternoon and collided with his Mercedes-Benz in Los Angeles.

The Winnipeg rock star and former Guess Who lead singer said he suffered a concussion, cuts and bruises to both his arms, and other injuries to his back and left leg, after a collision with a vehicle transporting five people, including a baby.

“My car is totalled,” Cummings wrote in a message on his Facebook page. “I suffered a concussion, as my head cracked my front windshield. I have cuts and serious bruising on both arms, and my left leg is very painful. Also, intense back pain.”

Cummings said he is lucky glass didn’t go into his eyes, and he can recover from his injuries.

“I’m trying to focus on just how lucky I am not to have been killed or crippled,” he said. “My hands and throat are basically okay, although I would be in no condition to do a show right now.

“I’m thankful to the gods and the universe that this idiot hit me on the passenger side of my car.”

Last week, before the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Nashville Predators in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinal playoff series, Cummings said he was expecting to travel to Winnipeg to sing the national anthems at a home game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Any such plans have been put on hold, Cummings said. “I need some serious healing time and won’t be able to fly right away. Now, unless the Jets continue on for a while, I might not be able to make it to Winnipeg to sing the anthems and cheer the Jets onward.”

Rob Wozny, vice-president of communications with True North Sports and Entertainment, said the NHL team owner “was engaged in initial discussions with Burton Cummings’ management about the possibility of a performance, should the Winnipeg Jets advance to the Stanley Cup final.”

“We wish Burton a speedy recovery and regret that he will not be able to take part in our Whiteout (street party) festivities,” Wozny said.

Cummings, 70, wrote and co-wrote a Prairie field-sized swath of the Canadian songbook during his now more than five-decade-long career.

As vocalist, songwriter and pianist of the Guess Who — and later the band’s leader — he co-wrote American Woman, These Eyes and No Time. He later penned Albert Flasher, Share the Land and Star Baby. During his solo career, which peaked in the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, he scored hits with Stand Tall, I’m Scared, My Own Way to Rock and Break It to Them Gently.

Cummings has received Juno awards, a Genie award, RPM awards and SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) honours. He was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2009, the Order of the Buffalo Hunt in 1987, the Order of Manitoba in 2001, and received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto in 2011.

Meanwhile, Cummings said Sunday’s incident has left him with psychological scars, too.

“The worst thing these last two nights has been that my mind has been ‘reliving the crash,’” he wrote online.

“That sound and fear and unexpected horror… I’ve always been extremely wary of shrinks and therapists, but now, at 70, after this accident, I know I’m going to have to get some help getting over the shock.

“My mind keeps reliving the awful crash. The terror and the sound.”

From Winnipeg, numerous people sent hope for a speedy recovery via Cummings’ Facebook page and Twitter.

Mayor Brian Bowman tweeted he was “sending some love and support from Winnipeg to @burtoncummings. Get well Burton. Hope to see (and hear) you again in the Peg very soon!”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca