Elton John has been forced to cancel a string of Las Vegas concerts after he was rushed to hospital with a serious respiratory infection.

The 65-year-old star was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles at around 6am on Wednesday.

A statement posted on his website yesterday said he had become ill last weekend while performing his show, The Million Dollar Piano, at the Colosseum in Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas.

Doctors have ordered the star – who has a three-year-old son with his husband David Furnish – to rest for seven days, forcing him to cancel four concerts at the venue.

He was told by medics that he needed "complete rest and antibiotic treatment to prevent damage".

He is said to have been released from hospital yesterday after undergoing a series of tests.

A statement on Elton's website read: "It feels strange not to be able to perform these Million Dollar Piano concerts at the Colosseum."