Australian singing legend John Farnham is awake and responding well to hospital care after surgery last week to remove a cancerous growth from his mouth.

The Farnham family has confirmed the 73-year-old remains in a stable condition in intensive care after his 12-hour operation at a Melbourne hospital on August 23.

“He is awake and responding well to the care he’s receiving,” his wife Jill said in a statement on Monday.

Jill and John’s sons Rob and James thanked the public for their ongoing messages and well wishes during the past week.

“It really lifts our spirits knowing that everyone is thinking of John,” they said.

Before his surgery, Farnham said a cancer diagnosis was something many people faced each day “and countless others have walked this path before me”.

Mouth cancer is a type of head and neck cancer, and more than 5100 people are diagnosed with the illness in Australia each year. 

Farnham’s diagnosis comes three years after he suffered a health scare and was hospitalised with a severe kidney infection.

He sang his way into Australian hearts as a fresh-faced teenager in the 1960s, but faded into near obscurity before his 1986 album Whispering Jack shot him back to the top.

The album produced one of the nation’s best-known anthems, You’re the Voice, and propelled Farnham to hero status.