Shania Twain fears Lyme disease may have been behind vocal issues that sidelined her career for years.
The country star developed dysphonia, a vocal cord disorder often caused by stress, but she recently discovered a bacterial infection may have been behind the drama.
As she warms up for a performance at this weekend’s (April 29 & 30) Stagecoach festival in California, Shania tells the Los Angeles Times that she wasn’t able to fix her vocal issues with an operation and months of silence, like Adele, Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor, and Steven Tyler.
“A singer’s typical problem is nodules on the vocal cords from overuse or poor technique,” she tells the newspaper. “That was not my problem. My problem isn’t unique, or rare, but the exercises are very different than for nodules, and I can’t get an operation for mine.”
Twain reveals she’ll always have to take care of her voice before shows for fear it will give up on her again.
Many people believed the stress surrounding the breakdown of her marriage to songwriter/producer Mutt Lange prompted her voice issues, which kept her out of the recording studio and off the stage for six years.
Her journey back to singing was chronicled on her OWN network series Why Not? in 2011 and the confidence that gave her prompted the You’re The One hitmaker to sign on for a residency in Las Vegas before she hit the road for the Rock This Country Tour in 2015.
That was all set to be her last tour, but with Stagecoach coming up and a comeback album planned for release later this year, fans may catch Shania on the road again soon.
