Sam Fender has revealed that he has been forced to pull out of a string of European festival dates after suffering a vocal cord haemorrhage.
The Brit Award winner, 31, told fans that during an appointment with his ENT doctor earlier this week, he learned that his vocal cords were “slightly swollen”, and later struggled to perform during his headline gig at Silverstone.
A further medical check up then revealed that he had suffered a haemorrhage, prompting his doctor to advise him not to sing for the next fortnight to avoid “lasting damage to [his] vocal cords”.
“Hey everyone, at the beginning of the week I got my voice checked by my ENT doctor and the cords were slightly swollen,” Fender wrote in a statement shared on Instagram.
“After a few days rest I was advised by my team that I was okay to perform. On stage at Silverstone I could feel that things were a lot harder than usual, I felt I needed to push a lot harder to sing – this is never a good sign.
“I’ve just been checked by my ENT again today, as I was concerned about it, and it’s transpired that I’ve had a haemorrhage on one of my vocal cords.”
The “Seventeen Going Under” singer described the news as “incredibly frustrating” as he has been “so careful with [his] vocal health” this year.
“I’ve been advised to be on vocal restriction and to not sing for the next 14 days,” he added.
“If I were to play at these next shows I would risk causing lasting damage to my vocal cords. This means I cannot perform at the upcoming Rock Werchter, Down the Rabbit Hole, NOS Alive, and Montreux Jazz Festivals.
“I’m so sorry to everyone who is coming to those festivals with our show in mind. Our fans are the most important thing to us, I hate letting people down and I hate not being able to sing for weeks as it is my only real passion in life.”
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Fender shared his hope that he will be able to “make it up” to fans “down the line” and assured them that he is “gonna work to get this voice fixed”, before signing off with “love from me and the band”.
The musician previously cancelled a handful of gigs on his 2024 tour after a similar injury to his vocal cords forced him to pull out of dates in Glasgow and in his home city of Newcastle.
He recently concluded a stadium tour with homecoming gigs at St James’ Park and received the Brit Award for Best Alternative / Rock Act earlier this year.
