LONDON (REUTERS) - American pop singer Jimmy Osmond, who performed the chart-topping hit Long-Haired Lover From Liverpool as a child in 1972, has suffered a stroke.

He will take time away from the stage, a spokesman said on Monday.

Osmond completed a performance of the Peter Pan pantomime on Dec 27 at the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre in central England before he was driven to hospital and diagnosed with a stroke, the representative said in a statement on the theatre's website.

"He is grateful for all the well wishes and will be taking time out in the new year," the spokesman added.

Osmond, 55, was the youngest sibling in The Osmonds family troupe whose most famous members were Donny and Marie.

He became the youngest person to reach number one on Britain's singles chart with the release of Long-Haired Lover From Liverpool when he was nine.

He had, at age three, already had a sampling of show business when singer Andy Williams introduced the newest Osmond to the world on The Andy Williams Show.