Singer/songwriter Michael Kiwanuka hasn’t been able to return home since suffering a stroke but he still has “hope” as he’s been writing lyrics and singing during his recovery.
Michael Kiwanuka hasn’t been able to return home since suffering a stroke but he still has “hope”.
The Cold Little Heart hitmaker became critically ill earlier this year and underwent emergency surgery, being treated in an intensive care unit and spending five months in hospital before being moved to a rehabilitation centre in Hampshire, England where he is continuing to recover. He’s now given his first interview since the scare and admitted he’s facing an uncertain future in the music industry after the stroke – which was caused by undiagnosed high blood pressure – but he’s been writing new music and singing to aid his recovery. He told the Guardian: “People have been helpful and kind and diligent and patient.
“But it’s been hard as well. Things like sessions of rehab every day, which can get tiring … A lot of stretches and getting your body back in shape.
“The brain injury affected some of the pathways to parts of my body, so I’ve been working on that …
“There was a point where my [speaking] volume was really low when I spoke because I had a breathing tube, so that affected my vocal cords. I had to re-energise those.”
Michael revealed he’s been singing lots of songs by Bob Dylan and the Beach Boys as well as scribbling down lyrics.
He added: “There was a point in hospital where I had a notepad and I wrote lyrics down every day … There’s some days of hope, some days of real anger, some days of sadness and loss and grief.
“But it feels quite therapeutic to feel emotions so heavily, and the crying, quite soothing. I still have as much drive to create good music as I’ve ever done …
“A stroke can take away a lot of things, but it can’t take those songs away. So I’ve got hope from that. Who I was still exists in those songs and in that music.”
Michael – who is releasing new album Fudge next month after recording it prior to his stroke – also insisted he wants his story to encourage other Black men to get their blood pressure tested because they are believed to be more susceptible and he had no idea he was unwell before the terrifying health crisis.
He said: “If I’d known, I would have got checked out and been on medication to lower the blood pressure. I wouldn’t have had a stroke. So I want to make Black people aware that you could be at risk.”
Michael Kiwanuka hasn’t been home since suffering stroke
