TOM KEIFER Says He Is 'A Better Singer' Than He Was Before His Battle With Vocal Cord Paresis

January 22, 2018

CINDERELLA frontman Tom Keifer spoke to AXS about his early '90s battle with vocal cord paresis, a neurological condition on the left side of his voice box that almost put an end to his career. "Most singers that get [the condition] don't really ever sing again so I was told that I would never sing again. And the day I was given the news I was told my only prayer for singing again would be to try to retrain it and work with speech pathologists and vocal coaches. And I'd been working with coaches for decades and taking two steps forward and three steps back — it's just been really frustrating, so the first thing that comes to mind is it really taught me a lot of patience. And I'm like anyone else, we want instant gratification, we want things fixed, we want things now and that was not going to happen with this problem."

He continued: "For the first couple of years, I was in search of a different answer because working with vocal coaches sounded like a lot of work. I was almost in denial and I went to a lot more doctors looking for someone who could give me a shot or a pill and fix it. But of course, there wasn't anything like that. So yeah, it taught me patience but the other positive is that it actually improved my voice, I've learned so much from training that I think I'm a better singer and stronger than I was before the problem. I feel lucky that I was able to overcome it and I had a lot of great teachers along the way."

While treating and managing his vocal cord condition — a process which has included six surgeries — Keifer recorded his debut solo album, "The Way Life Goes", which was released as an expanded, deluxe edition on October 20 via Cleopatra Records.

"The Way Life Goes - Deluxe Edition" includes the original album that has been remastered by Richard Dodd (KINGS OF LEON, JASON ALDEAN, LADY ANTEBELLUM). It also has two brand new studio tracks recorded in Nashville by three-time Grammy Award winner Vance Powell with Keifer and his bandmates. Fans also get to hear a powerful new take on the CINDERELLA classic "Nobody's Fool", newly recorded as a duet with Lzzy Hale of HALESTORM.

Find more on Cinderella
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).