KANYE BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS ON STAGE IN PARIS

With his mother, Dr. Donda West's death just a week ago, Kanye West returned to Europe to fulfill his concert obligations beginning with Paris Saturday night.

However, when the rapper tried to perform "Hey Mama," he broke down in tears and couldn't finish.

"This song is for my mother..." is how West started to introduce the song to a sold-out crowd at Le Zénith in Paris, but couldn't go on.

"He said the word, 'Mother' and just couldn't go any further," Le Parisien journalist Meddy Magloire told People. "A back-up singer, the DJ and a guitar player came over to console him. (At one point,) it looked like he might collapse. He just couldn't continue. He just stood there in a spotlight, crying while the band continued playing."

Magloire says that after a few moments of stunned silence, the audience of 5,000 reacted by offering calls of encouragement, which grew into applause.

The band restarted the song, but West left the stage, but he came back after 10-15 minutes to finish the concert with a rousing performance of "Stronger."

At this point except for Monday's show in Amsterdam, West's European tour is still on which is somewhat surprising. He cancelled a Victoria's Secrets performance on Thursday and was not at the memorial for her in Chicago on Friday. There was speculation that he would remain reclusive until after his mother's funeral tomorrow in Oklahoma.

Now the word is that after the funeral he will resume the tour – including his planned Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22, performance at the O2 arena in London. The European tour dates, which are listed on his website, end on December 4.

Meanwhile, the grieving artist is also tapped to work on upcoming albums from Mos Def and John Legend.

Legend, who is preparing a follow up to last year's "Once Again," says his thoughts are with West following the sudden death of his mother.

"She loved him and supported him unconditionally," Legend notes. "She was really there for him a lot and was ... really a great example for him. You could tell how close they were, and I just can't imagine how devastated he is right now."

Legend dedicated a performance of his hit "So High" to Dr. West at a Get Together show Wednesday in Detroit and said afterwards that he plans to attend her funeral tomorrow in Oklahoma.

KANYE MOURNS LOST OF MOTHER

Kanye West's mother dies in L.A. after surgery

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Grammy-winning rap star Kanye West's mother, a former university professor, died in a Los Angeles-area hospital due to possible complications from surgery, the L.A. County Coroner's office said on Monday. She was 58.

Donda West helped manage her son's businesses and educational foundation after retiring in 2004 after 30 years teaching English at Chicago State University. She died Saturday night at Centinela Freeman Hospital in seaside Marina del Rey after paramedics were called to her nearby home.

A coroner's spokesman said an autopsy would be performed later this week. He did not know what sort of surgery West underwent, but media reports said she had a breast reduction and abdominoplasty, a major procedure commonly referred to as a "tummy tuck."

The celebrity news Web site TMZ.com quoted a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Jan Adams, as saying he performed surgery on West before she died, that her death was unforeseen and he did nothing wrong.

In a statement issued late on Monday, Kanye West thanked "everyone for the outpouring of support and kind words that have come in from across the country." He did not address any surgery or health issues.

Donda West raised her son in a middle-class Chicago suburb after splitting with her husband, a former Black Panther who went on to become a sociology professor.

Mother and son co-founded the Kanye West Foundation, which aims to keep inner-city youth in school and improve literacy.

She inspired the song "Hey Mama," which is featured on her son's Grammy-winning 2005 album "Late Registration." In May, she published a book titled "Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar."

(Reporting by Dana Ford and Dean Goodman; Editing by Patricia Zengerle)