Morrissey has been forced to postpone six live dates after it was revealed that the former front man of The Smiths was suffering from a bleeding ulcer.

The outspoken performer is just getting going on a nationwide US tour, but has had to cancel dates already, including last Thursday (January 24, 2013) in Michigan, a Friday night performance in Minneapolis (January 25) and Chicago (January 26). This was down to an illness that struck one of his band members, but now that Morrissey himself is ailing, it’s cost him more dates; the star has cancelled Asheville, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Lawrence, Kansas; Clear Lake, Iowa; and Lincoln, Nebraska. He isn’t expecting to be able to resume his schedule until February 9 in Las Vegas. "Morrissey is expected to make a full recovery and thanks everyone concerned for their support during this time," his representative Lauren Papapietro said in a statement, reported by Reuters.

Morrissey is currently without a record deal and, last year, all but admitted to Australia’s Herald Sun that he’d given up on getting one. The singer commented “The horizon remains bleak. But I accept it now. I exist only in the live arena, or on You Tube, and that's the full extent of it. Talent is now so artificially shaped that to tour successfully and to have integrity and meaning to whatever you do are utterly foreign commodities to the music industry.”

Watch Morrissey's video for 1992 hit 'You're The One For Me, Fatty'