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.

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