Former INXS and Noiseworks singer Jon Stevens is being held in hospital after suffering complications following emergency open-heart surgery, his management company said on Thursday.

The Australian rocker's manager Simon Lucas said the operation was carried out in a Sydney hospital about three weeks ago and was deemed a success.

But 46-year-old Stevens' condition has deteriorated and his recovery has been hampered due to some post-operative complications, primarily fluid around the heart and infection.

Jon is in good spirits and following doctors' orders, but will not be released from hospital until he gets the go-ahead from his doctors and surgeon early next week, Lucas said in a statement.

Stevens was taken to hospital after doctors reportedly found a blockage in one of the main arteries to the heart during a routine check-up. Stevens had two stents inserted into the arteries in his heart in December.

Sydney band Noiseworks became successful in the late 1980s and New Zealand-born Stevens went on to tour and record with INXS from 2000, after the 1997 death of frontman Michael Hutchence.

He quit the band in 2003 and has released more solo albums including Ain't No Life for the Faint Hearted in 2004.

Medicine