George Michael has revealed he started speaking with a West Country accent after he awoke from his coma last year.
The singer was admitted to hospital last year in Vienna during his battle with pneumonia, and later described the period as “the worst month of my life” and claimed that doctors had spent three weeks “keeping him alive”.
Although the singer has now recovered – and has even written a track about his near-death experience titled ‘White Light’ – he told BBC Radio 2 that medical staff had feared he’d suffered brain damage when he started speaking with a country burr.
“My doctors were genuinely worried that I had this condition, it’s a genuine thing where people wake from comas speaking French or some other language they learned at school,” he said, before adding:
They were worried I could have spoken like that for the rest of my life… Not that there’s anything wrong with the West Country accent – but it’s a bit weird when you come from North London.
He went on to say: “They were just laughing away at me talking in this weird accent. I basically did two days’ worth of stand-up comedy.”
Earlier this year, George Michael rescheduled the remaining dates of his ‘Symphonica’ tour. The tour, which will see the singer performing live with a large orchestra, now begins at Birmingham’s LG Arena on September 16 and runs until October 17 when he plays the final show of three at London’s Earls Court.
George Michael will play:
Birmingham LG Arena (September 16, 17)
Manchester Evening News Arena (21, October 9)
Glasgow SECC (23, 24)
London Royal Albert Hall (29)
Sheffield Motorpoint Arena (October 1)
Newcastle Metro Radio Arena (3)
Cardiff Motorpoint Arena (5, 6)
Liverpool Echo Arena (10)
London Earls Court (13, 14, 17)
To check the availability of George Michael tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0871 230 1094.