A JOHN Lennon impersonator will miss out on playing at what would have been his hero’s 74th birthday after a near-fatal fall.

Vox Beatles frontman Mike Mountford shattered his hip when he fell 25ft off a ladder on his own birthday.

The Hove-based singer said he was gutted to be missing out on the gig but grateful to still be alive.

He is now in a battle to be fit and back on stage by the end of the year, with the band already booked to play a big New Year’s Eve concert.

The singer fell and broke his hip in five places. In a bizarre twist of rock ‘n’ roll fate, he was wheeled into the operating theatre by “Bill Wyman”, otherwise known as Aaron from local Rolling Stones cover band The Railing Stains, who doubles as a hospital porter.

Mike said: “I am lucky to be talking to you at all to be honest. The main break in my pelvis is half an inch from my spine.

“I landed on my side. If I had landed any other way I would have died.

“I am not a religious person but I have had cause to say thank you to God.

“I am so grateful to all the paramedics and all the medical staff who have helped me with my rehab.

The band will be playing with a replacement John Lennon for their gig at the Komedia in Gardner Street, Brighton, next Thursday.

He said: “It’s going to be weird to see somebody else up there but I would not have been able to do anything the state I am in at the moment.”

Fans might not be able to tell the difference at first sight because Mike’s own family can’t either.

Mike said: “The bloke looks exactly like me.

“My brother John is our drummer and he said when they first played together, he thought the guy was me in front of him and not my replacement.”

Also on the night Gail Renard, who was famously part of the week-long love-in held by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in Montreal in 1969, will be signing copies of her new book.

Tickets are available from www.komedia.co.uk/brighton/music or on the door.