Best recoveries after a singer has suffered vocal damage

Hello esteemed forum.

Scorpions came on the radio today. It got me thinking that I once read vocalist Klaus Meine suffered vocal damage.

A quick Wikipedia check confirms that in 1981, he damaged his voice to the point he couldn't speak properly and was advised to find another profession.

He didn't. And after 2 vocal cord surgeries and therapy, he regained his singing power.

Any other examples of vocalists who did a number on their voices, only to come back strong?

Thanks for playing.

 

Rod Stewart had surgery for thyroid cancer which threatened to end his singing career, but he recovered.

 

Canadian folk/country legend Ian Tyson lost his voice several years ago, before regaining it from a successful operation performed by the same vocal doctor who improved Adele's voice. Today, Ian's voice has lost some of its power of range, but is still very strong for a man of his age.

 

Klaus Meine is a good example of someone whose vocal troubles actually made his voice sound cool. I love the rough quality of his voice on Animal Magnetism.

Another example of this would be Robert Plant on Physical Graffiti.

 

Frank Zappa, after his being dragged off the stage by a crazy audience member. His voice afterward deepened, as best heard on Apostrophe!

 

Bruce Dickenson sounds good on the latest tour after his cancer treatment

 

Levon Helm recorded several albums after his first bout with throat cancer

 

Dylan after the cycle accident.

 

Geri Halliwell, she had nodules on her vocal cords and had them removed and then recorded this beauty

 

John Prine.
Cancer surgery removed a piece of his neck and severed a few nerves in his tongue, while the radiation damaged some salivary glands.
He sounds different now, but still great.

 

Too many Pop and Rock singers never learned to sing correctly, and strained their voices. My dad developed nodes from doing Punch & Judy without a swazzle, and had to have them removed - and my mom had to learn to do the magic show and did Punch and Judy to a tape my dad recorded before the operation.

 

Elton john ! the fact he can still sing is amazing! Gary Brooker in the 90's he sounded bad but then about 2005 he sounded great.

 

So true. Many of the new crop of singers have had their turn under the knife and/or on vocal rest. Why is no one readying them for the demands of the road? Frightening...

Ed

 

My first thought was Tom Keifer from Cinderella. He's had multiple bouts with vocal hemorrhaging and he's still at it - albeit in a somewhat safer way.

Ed

 

Obviously this is written for harry Nilsson

My choices

My favorite post P-Cats Nilsson track--

 

Tom Jones

 

You would think that their management would recommend vocal training to retain their voice.

 

And this special

 

Rosanne Cash was unable to sing for two and a half years, due to a polyp on her vocal cords. She released an album in 2003 and before that 1996.

 

I don't know, I don't think that Harry recovered that well. While it did give his voice some additional character, it sacrificed his tremendous range. Harry should never had made ***** acats with Lennon, or, at the very least, stopped drinking, smoking during recording and/or allowed his throws to heal.

 

They really oughta keep vocal coaches on retainer for this purpose. When they blow out their voices, everyone loses money.

Ed

 

I believe that he was pushed! And while not vocal-related, it also resulted in Waka Jawaka, The Grand Wazoo and the two resultant tours (and CDs). Those might well not have happened otherwise.

 

I agree totally but his voice is a shadow of it's former self for sure. His falsetto is long gone.

Ed

 

I'd nominate Linda Thompson who suffered from either Dysphonia or aphonia which robbed her of her ability to sing for years. She has gotten over it but still doesn't perform live. I suspect that the dysphonia resulted from the messy break up with her ex as it usually is caused by a psychological disorder.