2022 is not a good year for Ralph Siegel: Not only does his musical flop, he also suffers health setbacks, for example due to another cancer diagnosis. And New Year’s Eve also holds an unpleasant surprise for the composer.
Music producer Ralph Siegel has been taken to hospital after collapsing at home. “I fell over like a wet sack. The reason was an overdose of morphine and cortisone tablets that I administered myself without thinking,” says the Munich resident in an interview with the “Bild” newspaper.
Why did he do this? “I wanted to be fit for my New Year’s Eve party,” explains Siegel. He takes the medication because of a triple herniated disc. On New Year’s Eve he swallowed the morning and evening pills at the same time. When he fell, he hit his forehead on a pipe.
The New Year’s Eve celebration fell through for him. “I had to stay in the clinic for observation,” explains the 77-year-old.
His guests would still have celebrated with him at his request. He “didn’t want to spoil New Year’s Eve for his friends,” said Siegel. Together they would have found a solution to let “Mister Grand Prix” participate in the events after all. They had “contact via mobile phone video,” says Siegel, who was able to leave the hospital on Monday.
So a rather unfortunate year for Siegel ended in a less than happy way. In the summer of 2022, the composer made it public that he suffered from the nervous disease polyneuropathy, in which the transmission of stimuli in the nerves is disrupted. “It started with pain in my feet. I could hardly walk and stand,” he explained.
Later that year, his musical ‘N Bit Peace – Rock’n’Roll Summer’ flopped. The show in Duisburg was canceled after just a few performances due to low ticket sales.
Finally, in December, Siegel revealed that he had cancer again. After beating the disease 15 years ago, prostate cancer has returned. This time, however, the cancer also spread, explained Siegel, who is fighting it with radiation.