Chris Kamara has given a health update and revealed he has turned to singing as a form of therapy in his battle against apraxia of speech (AOS).
The 67-year-old sports pundit, who is affectionally known as “Kammy”, is no stranger to the world of singing having previously released a charity football single and not one but two Christmas albums, however this time he has no intention of bothering the charts.
Instead, he has joined a choir of Bradford City supporters for the new BBC series Bantam of the Opera.
While singing is clearly something he enjoys as he even appeared as Ghost on the fourth series of ITV’s The Masked Singer, he has been surprised to discover that singing “helps” him with his neurological condition, which he has been openly navigating since going public with his diagnosis in March 2022.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast on Monday, host Jon Kay probed, "Chris, you mentioned, as well, about your condition, your apraxia of speech that you've talked about. How has singing helped you?".
To which the former professional footballer humorously responded: "Well, the good news is, I could never sing before so it's not made any difference," garnering chuckles from the hosts.”
Assuming a serious tone, he then continued: "But the truth of the matter is, you get more fluency in your voice when you sing so it's a form of rehab when you're trying to get your voice back. Singing helps me."
During the chat, he also opened up about his unusual decision to adopt a Scottish accent during his stint on The Masked Singer.
Kamara explained the he found it easier to maintain fluency while performing with a Scots accent, even showcasing a brief switch to the twang live on air.
"But that's not me," he elaborated. "To get my voice back, I have to keep practising. Singing is a way of enabling that situation to come back.
