The singer-songwriter Chris Rea has cancelled a scheduled concert in Brighton following his collapse while performing in Oxford.

Rea, who had a stroke last year, was mid-song at the New Theatre when he suddenly clutched his microphone and fell to the stage. He had been 45 minutes into the 35th concert in his 37-leg Road Songs For Lovers tour.

A spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, Chris Rea has had to cancel tonight’s show at Brighton Centre due to illness.

“A decision about the outstanding date on his UK tour on 12 December at Bournemouth International Centre will be made in the near future.”

Rea, 66, known the songs Driving Home for Christmas and The Road to Hell, rose to prominence in the late 1970s and has a distinctive, gravelly voice.

Following his collapse, the curtain was drawn and the audience was told the show was cancelled. South Central ambulance service described Rea as being in a stable condition when it treated him.

Darren Fewins, who had been watching the performance, said: “He was standing by the microphone and he had the guitar in his hand and he kept shaking his left hand as if there was something not quite right with it.

“He walked forward to the microphone and he was trying to grab the microphone with his left hand, and it was swinging from side to side. I thought at first there was something wrong with it and he was trying to keep it steady.

“Then he just collapsed on the stage backwards. He was on his back for about two minutes before they brought the curtain down and then that was it.”

The Middlesbrough-born musician was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2001. He has spoken about quitting smoking after having a stroke in 2016. “I’m fine when I’m sitting down, I’ve just got a little bit of balance – it’s a bit dodgy, just in case anyone thinks I’m drunk on stage,” he told BBC Breakfast in August.