Country music singer Randy Travis suffers stroke

Grammy award-winning country music singer Randy Travis is out of emergency surgery, but still in critical condition after suffering a stroke in a Texas hospital, representatives for the singer and the hospital said.

The procedure was intended to relieve pressure on the brain of Travis, 54, whose stroke on Wednesday came after he was admitted to hospital on Sunday for a heart condition caused by a virus, Baylor Health Care System said.

"He is out of surgery and remains in critical condition," the spokesman Kirt Webster said.

Webster had earlier said the singer's family and friends were with him at the Heart Hospital Baylor Plano, north of Dallas, and that they requested the prayers and support of his fans. The representative said Travis' stroke was a "complication of his congestive heart failure".

The announcement of the stroke came just hours after doctors spoke publicly for the first time about his condition, saying the singer had been responding to treatment three days after entering hospital for his heart condition. Travis was suffering from cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure when he was admitted.