Stephen Cummings reveals the new music he created while recovering from a stroke

Beloved singer songwriter and former The Sports frontman Stephen Cummings reveals the impact of a stroke on his voice.

Revered singer songwriter Stephen Cummings has revealed how he painstakingly wrote and recorded new songs while recovering from a stroke during the pandemic lockdowns.

The former The Sports frontman suffered damage to his left side motor skills and had to learn to walk and recover his fine motor skills in the months after suffering the stroke in March 2020.

As part of his rehabilitation, producer Robert Goodge encouraged the 68-year-old musician to write songs and rallied many of the award-winning artist’s musician mates to help him complete the project.

The first single Carry Your Heart, which reveals the impact of the stroke on his voice, was released this week as Cummings shared his struggle to recover from his illness.

Stephen Cummings has released his post-stroke single Carry Your Heart this week. Picture: Supplied / Kathleen O'Brien

“I was always a natural singer and assumed I could just sing as long as I wanted,” Cummings wrote in a statement.

“After the stroke, I had a lot of rehab to learn to walk and recover fine motor skills on my left side. I couldn’t really play guitar anymore.

“I did some vocal therapy and found my tone still good but the control and breathing the hard part. I learnt I if I sang more slowly and more quietly it sounded better. I have to focus more and keep to different parameters.”

Goodge, who was a member of I’m Talking which launched Kate Ceberano’s career, said the record project was born out of Cummings’ frustrations with trying to recover as the pandemic lockdowns came into effect.

But it soon became part of his therapy.

Cummings will release a new album in May. Picture: Supplied

“I thought it might be good therapy for Stephen to do some songwriting and singing with no pressure, just a bit of friendly creative noodling, to aid in his recovery…perhaps he would share them with his Facebook friends…so I whipped up a few song sketches,” Goodge said.

“Stephen had no trouble writing lyrics. They came as fast as I could supply the basic structure. Singing them, however, was more of a challenge, but that is what I expected and we just kept trying, gaining ground little by little. A couple of ideas soon became quite a few.”

Cummings would patiently record the lyrics line by line, over and over again, to get them sounding good despite the effects of the stroke on his voice.

“I’ve had to accept now that things aren’t going to be the same but they can still be good and work with what I’ve got,” he wrote.

“The album captures the state I was in during my recovery. The weather was always bad when I went on all my lockdown walks and that is a feature of the album too.’

Among the artists who sing and perform on the record are Rebecca Barnard, The Triffids’ Graeme Lee, I’m Talking’s Zan Abeyratne and Philippa Nihill and Glenn Bennie of the Underground Lovers.

The 100 Years From Now is released on May 5.

Originally published as Stephen Cummings reveals the new music he created while recovering from a stroke