Legendary musician Robert Fripp, best known as the guitarist and co-founder of King Crimson, is recovering from surgery after suffering a heart attack that he initially shrugged off as a "little acid reflux."
Fripp revealed the news while sharing an update alongside his wife Toyah Wilcox in a video posted to their YouTube channel, saying he suffered a heart attack "but hadn't known it."
Fripp said he knew something was wrong on April 6 when he flew to Italy, where he was set to perform with The Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists at Villa Sancelso in Castione della Presolana.
"I'd been suffering what I considered to be acid reflux for a couple of weeks," he said, noting that "it felt a little bit more" upon flying.
After arriving in Bergamo, Fripp was taken to a specialized cardiac hospital, where doctors found his troponin levels to be alarmingly high, an indicator of significant heart damage.
"You're supposed to have 10 of these, but you've got 500," Fripp recalled a doctor saying to him.
Fripp underwent a five-hour surgery, followed by an additional operation. Despite the ordeal, he still took the stage alongside the 124-member ensemble at Villa Sancelso.
"It was stunning. The audience were prepped with orchestral manoeuvres and it really was a magical event for me," he said.
Fripp founded King Crimson in 1968 and played key roles on major albums by David Bowie, Brian Eno, and Peter Gabriel, according to Billboard. Lately, Fripp has gained new fans through the viral "Sunday Lunch" YouTube series, where he and his wife perform theatrical rock covers.