Shania Twain felt "petrified" about singing again after undergoing throat surgery.
The 57-year-old country star was left with nerve damage to her vocal cords after contracting Lyme disease in 2003 and had open-throat surgery in 2018 to help combat the issue - but Shania has now admitted she was extremely worried about whether her voice would sound the same.
She told InStyle magazine: "After I had the surgery, I was petrified to make a sound. I didn't know what was going to come out.
"It did scare me, but I just had to take the leap and make a sound."
However, the singer's fears were unfounded and she was so happy to have her voice back again. She went on: "I was so excited about what came out. It was a connection to the vocal cords and it came out very easily. I was really, really, really excited."
She added of her health issues: "It's a reminder, don't take time for granted. Don't take the opportunity for granted. It's possible I might lose it, that it may not last. I guess any prosthetic or support that you get that is synthetic, your body still may give out around it. It could happen."
After the operation, Shania felt confident enough to return to the studio to record her new album 'Queen of Me' - which is due for release in February.
Speaking on 'Talk Shop Live', she said of the record: "For me, this album means so, so much about my decision-making and the courage to get the operation, knowing that I may never even be able to sing again after the surgery. So that was a big decision."
