Joni Mitchell unable to speak following 'traumatic brain injury'

Mitchell, 71, was hospitalised in Los Angeles on 31 March after being found unconscious at her home

Mitchelll, 71, was hospitalized in Los Angeles on March 31, after being found unconscious at her home

Guitarist and singer David Crosby has revealed that Joni Mitchell is unable to speak after suffering from a "traumatic brain injury".

Singer-songwriter Mitchelll, 71, was hospitalised in Los Angeles on 31 March after being found unconscious at her home. Previous reports suggest that Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm and remains in hospital.

In an interview with the Huffington Post esteemed folk singer Crosby revealed more about Mitchell’s on-going ill health. He said: “Nobody found [Mitchell] for a while. She took a terrible hit. To my knowledge she is not speaking yet... She's going to have to struggle back from it the way you struggle back from a traumatic brain injury... She's a tough girl, and very smart. So, how much she's going to come back and when, I don't know and I'm not going to guess.”

“I love her,” he continued. “She's probably the best of us - probably the greatest living singer-songwriter. I think we’re all holding our breath and thinking a good thought, hoping that it’s going to turn out OK.”

The last official update on Mitchell’s health was posted to her website on 28 April , where representatives denied reports that Mitchell was in a coma but confirmed that she was still in hospital and “she comprehends, she’s alert, and she has her full senses. A full recovery is expected.”

Mitchell has not released any new material since her 2007 album Shine and has not toured since the late 1990s.

Mitchell has said that she suffers from a rare condition called Morgellons disease. In the book, Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words, she has said of the disease: “Morgellons is constantly morphing. There are times when it's directly attacking the nervous system, as if you're being bitten by fleas and lice. It's all in the tissue and it's not a hallucination. It was eating me alive, sucking the juices out. I've been sick all my life.”

Crosby has been close to Mitchell since the 1960s. Both were predominant figures on the 60s and 70s Californian music scene along with Crosby’s musical collaborators Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young.