John Farnham’s manager has opened up about whether the Australian singer will ever perform again after a brutal battle with mouth cancer.
The You’re The Voice hitmaker, 75, underwent extensive surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his mouth in 2022, including a 12-hour operation.
Farnham’s manager Gaynor Wheatley and documentary maker Poppy Stockell spoke to Waleed Aly on Monday’s episode of The Project about the singer’s new memoir, The Voice Inside, and put the question on everyone’s lips.
“Is he going to sing in public again?” Waleed asked.
“He’s a singer,” Wheatley replied.
‘I know when he came back to the studio to do the audiobook, he was like, “I want to go back, I want to go back.”
‘I don’t know whether he will perform again. But I would definitely like to have him back in the studio.”
However, in a recently released excerpt from his book, Farnham seemed unsure about his ability to sing again.
John Farnham’s manager has opened up about whether the Australian singer will ever perform again after a brutal battle with mouth cancer. Pictured: Farnham in 2016
The You’re The Voice hitmaker, 75, underwent extensive surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his mouth in 2022, including a 12-hour operation. Pictured with his son Rob
“My facial disfigurement from the operation means I can’t open my mouth wide enough for a strip of spaghetti, let alone sing,” John describes in an excerpt published in the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘I can’t get the movement to make the sounds I want to make, that’s where the vibrations and my voice come from. It’s a very disturbing thing. And trying hurts.”
He said that although he is still unable to perform his signature voice, he is still hopeful that he will one day be able to sing again.
Farnham’s manager Gaynor Wheatley (pictured left) and documentary maker Poppy Stockell (pictured right) chatted to Waleed Aly on Monday’s episode of The Project about the singer’s new memoir, The Voice Inside.
‘I was given a gift and it was special to be able to come out and influence people in some way, and I would like to continue to do that. Although I’m not pinning all my hopes on it, we’ll see,” he said.
John also said he believes the tumor developed as a result of his long-term smoking habit, which he was eventually able to kick.
‘Cancer doesn’t discriminate, but as soon as I got the results I couldn’t help but think it was my own fault. “I smoked very heavily all my life,” he said.
However, in a recently released extract from his book, Farnham seemed unsure about his ability to sing again: ‘I can’t get the movement to make the sounds I want to make, that’s where the vibrations and my voice come from. It’s a very disturbing thing. And trying hurts.” In the photo 2015
He said he started smoking at the age of 14 and would do so in secret after his disapproving parents once caught him.
His memoirs were co-written with Poppy Stockwell and Farnham tells his story in his own words and with his trademark humour.
The book, out on October 30, documents Farnham’s early life and stardom growing up in Melbourne in the 1960s, up to his 1986 comeback album, Whispering Jack.
His voice was heard for the first time since the operation earlier this month in an extract from Farnham narrating his forthcoming memoir.
Publisher Hachette Australia released an excerpt from the book, with Farnham sounding slightly grimmer than before his 12-hour marathon procedure.
“I don’t like talking about myself, I really don’t,” he said in the teaser.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m an egomaniac, but digging up the past just isn’t something I’ve ever really enjoyed.
‘I will try to share as much as possible, but it is not easy because I have never been so open. I think there are reasons for that. Reasons for my reluctance.’
