Ozzy's new 7in of metal

Ozzy Osbourne is to have a seven-inch steel plate fitted inside the back of his neck.

Surgeons will perform the delicate operation, to help stabilise vertebrae he cracked in a quad bike crash, as soon as the former Black Sabbath frontman is strong enough.

In a three-hour operation doctors will insert the plate and reinforce the area with bone grafts from the singer's pelvis, it is understood. Doctors-fear Osbourne could suffer-permanent damage if he fell on his head or neck again. He also broke eight ribs and his collarbone in the accident at his Buckinghamshire home eight days ago.

Spinal surgeon Alan Gardner, of Hartswood Hospital, Essex, said any of "the country's top 100 surgeons" could carry out the operation. He said: "The plate will be secure for the rest of the patient's life. It will be like reinforcing rods in a concrete building, with bone forming all around it. "

Doctors at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough have taken Osbourne, 55, off a ventilator.

His duet with daughter Kelly, Changes, became his first number one this week - 33 years after he began his career.