Sam Smith’s Throat Surgery Is Over And He Can’t Sing A Peep For Two Months


Like plenty of singers before him, soul crooner Sam Smith has gone under the knife to fix some hemorrhaged vocal cords. On Tuesday, he came out of surgery as good as new.

But it’ll be at least a couple months before Sam can exercise his golden pipes once again. And it’s possible that his voice may sound different than it did before he started having problems, otalaryngologist, Dr. Michelle Yagoda told the New York Daily News.

Smith doesn’t appear to be worried; he told his fans on Instagram, before the surgery, that afterward “I’m gonna be able to sing like never before.” He has a concert scheduled for July.

While some famous singers haven’t had the best luck with vocal cord surgery – Julie Andrews primary among them – Dr. Yagoda doesn’t imply Smith’s voice will change for the worse. Those high notes he’s so fond of may just ring a little clearer.

But Smith, 23, must keep his mouth shut for three weeks and he won’t be able to sing for another eight, at most, People added. This resting period is standard.

What Sam has had to endure, a vocal cord hemorrhage, is simply an injured blood vessel that has burst into the vocal cords. The result is a bruise and it could’ve been large enough to keep Smith’s cords from vibrating against each other the same way as they did before; this vibration is what makes sound.

And when you’ve had the meteoric rise in fame that Sam Smith has had, it’s not surprising that he busted his voice in the process.

“It’s like playing the World Series nonstop,” the doctor said. “He goes extremely high, almost like he’s crying, and that is a very difficult technical maneuver (that can make someone) prone to injury.”

Smith’s debut album, The Lonely Hour, sold 3 million copies; he’s won four Grammy’s and won another at the Billboard Music Awards this weekend (and which he accepted silently), Contact Music added.

But all that singing, fun as it may look, is a very taxing job.

Many singers have undergone the same procedure – some choosing to keep it a secret to avoid speculation over its effect on their famous voices. The man who performed Sam’s surgery, Dr. Steven Zeitels, has repaired the pipes of Steven Tyler, Lionel Richie, and Adele, and they all recovered, Design & Trend added. So have John Mayer and Keith Urban.

So, it looks like Sam and his heavenly voice will be just fine. As for what caused his vocal cords to bleed, Dr. Yagoda said the injury didn’t necessarily result from singing wrong. She’s theorized that his recent drop in weight may have changed his body chemistry enough to bring it on.

Either way, the music world can’t wait to hear Sam Smith sing again.

{Photo Courtesy Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images]

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