R&B hitmaker Alexander O’Neal and his wife are recovering after an early morning fire destroyed their suburban Minneapolis apartment. The devastating fire was even more heartbreaking because it happened just after the 1980s crooner returned home after two weeks on life support.
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According to O’Neal’s wife and manager, Cynthia, Alexander woke her up shortly after 1 a.m. on Dec. 5 after noticing “a bubble of fire” had ignited inside a cord attached to an oxygen machine he was connected to. Cynthia told TMZ that her husband also burned his foot while trying to stomp out a separate fire that was burning on the floor.
After the fire spread to the couple’s mattress, Cynthia said she and her husband made their way down 3 flights of smoke-filled stairs to an ambulance, which took them to the hospital.
The fire, which destroyed four units in the Burnsville, Minnesota complex, erupted just hours after the “Innocent” singer returned home from a two-week stay in the ICU. There, he was on life support after being diagnosed with a rare bacterial pneumonia and an enlarged heart. As of the time of this post, the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
Cynthia O’Neal says that although their home is uninhabitable, she is grateful that she and her husband survived, adding that they are looking forward to the future.
“We are so happy to be alive. We may not have a toothbrush, but we have a car! Our spirits remain good, and we are moving forward,” she said.
Alexander O’Neal made a name for himself in music in the 1980s. He was chosen by Prince as the original lead singer of The Time before being fired and replaced by Morris Day. He went on to have a successful solo career, collaborating with well-known producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on hits like “Criticize,” “All True Man,” and “Saturday Love,” a 1985 duet with Cherrelle.
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