Bret Michaels "not 100 percent," but ready to rock

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Singer Bret Michaels, recently hospitalized after suffering a nearly fatal brain hemorrhage, said in a television interview on Monday that he is not yet 100 percent well, but still he's ready to rock again.

One day after Michaels, the frontman for rock band Poison, won U.S. reality TV show "Celebrity Apprentice," Michaels said in an interview on NBC's morning program "Today" that he plans to return to stage this coming weekend, taking "baby steps" to see how well he performs.

"This is the truth. I'm not back 100 pct yet, but I'm one of those guys, I have to have a goal. I'm very driven," he told "Today" show interviewer Meredith Viera.

Viera asked him if, as planned, he was going to sing at a May 28 show in Biloxi, Mississippi, and he said yes.

"I don't know that I'm ready yet, and I'm going to take it in baby steps. I'm going to do a show and see how it goes," he said. "I got to be honest. I'm ready to get out of the hospital and on the road. I don't want to be back in the hospital, so, I'm ready to rock and we'll see what happens."

Michaels, 47, has encountered several major medical issues in recent months. Two weeks after an emergency appendectomy, he suffered the brain hemorrhage on April 25. Last week he had a "mini-stroke" called a transient ischemic attack, and his doctors told him they found a hole in his heart. Complicating matters is that Michaels is diabetic.

He had trouble walking on stage when he appeared on Sunday night's live finale of "Celebrity Apprentice," and show host Donald Trump asked him if he was risking his life to be on the program, which Michaels laughed off with a joke.

On "Today," Viera asked if his physicians approved of him being in New York for the program, and he said they were wary.

"The doctor said it's not very smart to be here, but I'm not a very smart guy in that capacity," Michaels said.

"(My doctor) said 'I got to tell you that I don't think it's a great idea that you go there. It's a high risk.'...And I was kidding but I said, "With the luck I've been having, it seems like getting out of a chair's been a risk lately."

Michaels told Viera he thought he survived the near fatal brain hemorrhage because he had great medical attention and reacted quickly to get to a hospital when he first felt ill.

He also credited thoughts of his family -- his two daughters and his girlfriend -- for giving him the will to survive.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)