Aerosmith singer breaks shoulder in stage mishap

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler has broken his shoulder after falling off the stage during a concert on the veteran rock band's ill-starred summer tour, an insider said on Thursday.

Tyler, 61, also received stitches in his head and back following Wednesday's mishap in South Dakota, according to a Twitter message sent by Billie Perry, the wife of Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry.

"Yes he is very sore," she wrote, adding that there was no word yet on when the tour would resume.

Tyler accidentally stepped backward off a catwalk while performing "Love in an Elevator" for thousands of motorbike aficionados attending an annual gathering at Buffalo Chip Campground in the town of Sturgis.

The concert -- at the midway point when the accident occurred -- was stopped, and Tyler was airlifted to a hospital. Perry's Twitter message said he would see his own doctor soon, and that his bandmates have returned to their Boston base.

The band was forced last month to postpone seven shows after Tyler hurt his leg muscle. But the trek was troubled before it even kicked off almost two months ago.

Guitarist Brad Whitford, 57, missed the first few shows while recovering from surgery after hitting his head while getting out of his Ferrari. Then, bass player Tom Hamilton, a 57-year-old cancer survivor, left the tour to undergo what a spokeswoman described as "noninvasive surgery." He has not yet returned.

Aerosmith rose to fame in the early 1970s staking their claim as America's answer to the Rolling Stones. Tyler, who models his stage swagger on Mick Jagger, teamed with Perry to write such memorable tunes as "Walk This Way," "Back in the Saddle" and "Same Old Song and Dance."

But their fortunes had faded by 1979 when heavy drug use splintered the band. Aerosmith enjoyed an unlikely resurgence in 1986 when the hip-hop trio Run DMC covered "Walk This Way," a pioneering combination of rock and rap. The song's success prompted the band to get clean and hit the comeback trail with the help of outside songwriters and popular music videos.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Paul Simao)