The rock band's frontman and guitarist additionally admits he was 'trying too hard to prove' that he was fine although he was never worried that his voice would return after the surgery.
- Dec 9, 2020
AceShowbiz - Stereophonics star Kelly Jones only went public with his throat surgery when the band's concert film director overheard a chat with a friend.
The singer was keen to never talk about the procedure to save his voice, and thought he could complete the group's tour and documentary without it coming up.
"I didn't want it to put additional pressure on the tour, or on the Stereophonics album, 'Kind', that we made once my voice returned," Kelly explains. "I hadn't intended putting the surgery in the documentary, to be honest."
"The director, Ben Lowe, wanted to film the tour before knowing I'd had the operation... Then Ben overheard someone ask me, 'What are you going to do about the footage of your throat surgery?'"
"Ben said, 'Er, don't you think we should include that...?' I'd have been happy if people never knew I'd had surgery, but I could trust Ben that he'd sensitively show what happened."
Jones tells NME.com he was never worried that his voice would return after the surgery, but confesses he pushed a little too hard to get back onstage: "I was told before surgery that there was a good chance that I'd recover. From that point, it became mostly psychological. I felt like a dancer who'd broken their ankle - once you know you can recover, it's whether you've got the confidence to do what it takes to get back into it."
"I was guilty of rushing back, trying too hard to prove I was fine. I was trying to sing 'A Thousand Trees' with my voice coach at 9am, and I hadn't sung 'A Thousand Trees' at 9am since I was 21. I was fortunate the polyp wasn't bad enough for me to seriously think, 'What am I going to do if I can't sing again?' But it did make me think about what else I can do as a singer."
