The Minneapolis-area apartment of R&B and soul music legend Alexander O’Neal and his wife, Cynthia, caught fire in the early morning hours of Friday, December 5, sending them both to the hospital, according to KARE11. According to TMZ, Cynthia—who was quickly released from the hospital—shared that the fire was allegedly sparked by O’Neal’s oxygen machine, leading to multiple small fires in the apartment. O’Neal was still hospitalized as of Monday.
O’Neal, 72, who came to prominence due to his early association with music legend Prince and his collaborations with iconic production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, had returned home to his apartment earlier that day after a two-week stint in the ICU due to a rare form of bacterial pneumonia and an enlarged heart.
According to Cynthia’s account, she woke up in the middle of the night to O’Neal frantically alerting her to a fire, when she noticed a “bubble of fire” in the tube of the oxygen machine. Apparently, O’Neal had tried to stomp out another fire on the floor of the apartment with his bare foot, leading to burns.
O’Neal was on oxygen as a result of his two-week stay in the ICU. After the fire spread to a mattress, the couple called 911 and rushed out of the apartment down to the bottom floor, an endeavor hampered by O’Neal’s health condition. They eventually made it down and were rushed immediately into an ambulance and taken to an area hospital; O’Neal and Cynthia reportedly took in significant amounts of smoke while trying to leave the apartment and floor. According to TMZ, the fire impacted four apartments rendering them unlivable; the fire remains under investigation.
Alexander O’Neal—who is originally from Mississippi before he relocated to Minneapolis in the mid-1970s—was tapped to be the original lead singer of the Prince outfit, The Time, a role that would eventually go to Morris Day. According to lore, after a disagreement with Prince, O’Neal was let go, leading him to create a band, Alexander, before embarking on a solo career. O’Neal is best known for hit songs like “If You Were Here Tonight,” “Saturday Love” with singer Cherrelle, “Sunshine,” and R&B #1 single, “Fake,” and a litany of other songs long considered staples of the Black community.
