A VETERAN rocker who made Monmouth his home town is fighting for his life after ‘dying in his wife’s arms’.

His wife, Cici Edmunds, posted on social media, “My beloved husband of 40 years has had a major cardiac arrest,” and told how rock legend Dave Edmunds, “died in my arms while I desperately tried to keep him alive while trying to clear his airways. “As I’m on the floor with Dave dead, I keep my emotions in check ,even though I’m absolutely heartbroken .”

A nurse on the scene performed CPR and the doctors at the ICU operating room intubated the musician resurrecting him for a moment.

“He very clearly has brain damage and severe memory loss,” she added.

I Hear You Knocking chart-topper Edmunds, who also had hits with Baby I Love You, I Knew the Bride, Girls Talk and Queen of Hearts bought a house in Dixton Road, Monmouth in the 1970s, a few miles away from Charles and Kingsley Ward's Rockfield Studios.

He became an almost permanent fixture for the next 20 years at the legendary studios, recording albums such as his debut 1972 album Rockpile (along with Andy Fairweather Lowe) and Subtle as a Flying Mallet in 1975.

The following year, he teamed up with Nick Lowe forming the group Rockpile.

Dave was often seen in Monmouth where he had an upstairs flat in later years in Monnow Street, with his gold records hanging from the walls.