Natalie Merchant's Spinal Surgery Almost Robbed Her of Singing Voice: 'Took Me to a Place of Panic'

“It made me wish I had made more records,” the singer-songwriter revealed in an interview with The Guardian

Natalie Merchant is opening up about a serious health scare that almost robbed her of her voice.

The famed musician and former lead singer of the '90s hit band 10,000 Maniacs revealed in a new interview this month she was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal disease in late 2018 — a discovery that led to an emergency surgery and the temporary loss of her voice.

Speaking with The Guardian, Merchant recalled being in the V&A museum in London in 2018 and her right arm tingling. Her arm then went numb and suddenly she was in intense pain.

The singer flew home and after an MRI, had to have surgery.

"My spinal column was collapsing into my spinal cord," Merchant told the outlet. "I needed to have emergency surgery." The hours-long procedure removed three bones from her spine and to do that, doctors had to shift her vocal cords to the side. When she woke up after the surgery, she could no longer sing.

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"It took me to a place of panic," she remembered. "It made me wish I had made more records."

In the five years since, Merchant has kept busy, working in her community and campaigning against fracking while raising her teenage daughter, Lucia de la Calle, as a single mom. Interestingly, she stayed away from writing in an effort to stay present for her daughter while she was young.

"Lyric writing demands solitude and when I am in that state there is no eating, no stopping. I won't leave the house for days until it's done," the "Because the Night" songstress told The Guardian. "I did not want to do that to my daughter. I did not want to be one of those artists that valued my work more than my child."

She added: "I thought if I never make another record, she is the accomplishment on my deathbed."

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Merchant went on to recall what sparked her recent return to music: her friend sent her a novel written in narrative poetry by Scottish poet Robin Robertson. "I remember opening the book, reading the first chapter and writing to him immediately," the 59-year-old singer said. "I then sent him a copy of my box set, he sent me some of his other books and I just fell in love with language again."

Soon after their correspondence began, Merchant got her voice back and she started writing and crafting songs inspired by their communications.

She struggled to find the right way to describe her new material. "It's almost as if I have to invent a new word to describe the music on this album," Merchant said. "I don't even know what to call it."

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The 10,000 Maniacs alum — she was just 17 when she joined the group in 1981 — is kicking off a solo world tour this month and she's eager to get out on the road. "Writing is a solitary time of tinkering and pondering," she said. "Studio work is communal but it's more like a massive building project that requires engineering and so much diplomacy."

"Live performance is when I get a chance to roam around inside the structure I built and discover unexpected things, marvel at the acoustics or linger in my favorite room to notice the way the light pours in a window," she added.

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