People News

Adele's voice saved by Boston Doctor

By April MacIntyre Feb 13, 2012, 15:40 GMT

Adele - © Andrew Evans / PR Photos

A physician in Boston saved Adele's voice.

Vogue magazine interviewed English rose Laurie Blue Adkins (aka Adele) who swept last night’s Grammy Awards.

Adele graces the cover of Vogue’s March Power Issue (available on newsstands nationwide February 21st).

The interview goes into deep detail of the scary surgery that Adele faced.

Learn Adele’s Beauty Tricks HERE

According to the Vogue interview, Adele's voice troubles started at the beginning of her world promotional tour for 21.

“I’ve been singing properly every day since I was about fifteen or sixteen,” she tells Vogue, “and I have never had any problems with my voice, ever. I’ve had a sore throat here and there, had a cold and sung through it, but that day it just went while I was onstage in Paris during a radio show. It was literally like someone had pulled a curtain over it.”

Adele went to see her doctor in London and was diagnosed with acute laryngitis. But the diagnosis was not complete. “That was a hemorrhage...a burst blood vessel on my vocal cord. That healed, I did a tour, and then it happened again at my best friend’s wedding on October 1.”

“I knew my voice was in trouble,” she tells Vogue, “and obviously I cried a lot. But crying is really bad for your vocal cords, too!”

The music community reached out to Adele. According to Adele, other artists’ managers recommended she see Steven Zeitels, M.D., in Boston, one of the top throat surgeon in the world.

Zeitels discovered a polyp on one of Adele’s vocal cords. Adele tells Vogue: “When I met him I loved him,” she says. “He made me feel safe.”

She was contacted by other singers who underwent similar treatment. “John Mayer had it done at the same time as I did,” says Adele, “and he really helped me be chilled out about it. Roger Daltrey’s had loads of stuff done; Steven Tyler reached out; Elton John. Lots of artists have had problems with their voices, but you don’t know about it. And they are still singing incredibly well in their 50s and 60s.”