American Idol champ undergoes surgery

Los Angeles - American Idol champion Phillip Phillips has finally undergone surgery to remove several large kidney stones that almost caused him to quit the TV singing contest before winning last month, his publicist said on Thursday.

The 21-year-old singer and guitar player had the surgery in Los Angeles on Wednesday and will recuperate in time to kick off the American Idol 45-city summer tour on 6July.

"Surgery went well. He's resting and will be ready for the Idol tour kick-off," the publicist said.

'It was rough at times'

Phillips was crowned the latest American Idol three weeks ago and told reporters afterward he had been in pain for much of the four-month-long contest and considered quitting.

"It was rough at times, and there were a couple of times I thought about going ahead and getting the surgery done (...) But I had a lot of great doctors and a lot of great people who helped me out through it," the Leesburg, Georgia, singer said.

Celebrity website TMZ.com said Phillips spent more than six hours in surgery and several very large kidney stones were removed. The surgery was postponed from last week after Phillips fell ill with a sinus infection.