NEWS
Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones reveals he confided in Welsh singing legend Sir Tom Jones ahead of potentially career-ending vocal injury
05 May 2025
Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones revealed on Radio X that he confided in Welsh singing legend Sir Tom Jones ahead of vital surgery to correct a potentially career-ending one-time trauma polyp on his vocal cords, with Tom giving him words of advice beforehand.
Key
Kelly Jones – KJ
Toby Tarrant – TT
Dominic Byrne – DB
TT: “Now, I’m not a doctor. But a mutual friend of ours, Ben, who directed the documentary about your throat thing, which thankfully you’ve fully recovered from.”
KJ: “I spoke to Ben this morning.”
TT: “Oh did you? I love Ben, he’s a lovely, lovely chap. So, have you noticed any difference? Because in the documentary, obviously, you’re cured, but have you noticed any difference at all?”
KJ: “It’s better since then, weirdly, because I put the work in, doing the rehab and all that. I never had singing lessons or anything as a kid. In fact, I did my first gig – I was 12 – in a band, and there were other kids in the band that were singing, and I kept being pushed forward to be the singer because my old man was a singer. I never wanted to be a singer; I was happy in the back with a guitar. And as years went on, I became more and more in the front of all these different bands as a kid, but I never really took it that seriously. And then I think I’d been listening to some Chris Cornell records, and one day I just went for this Temple Of The Dog song, and I thought, ‘What’s that?’ This thing came out, and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll be the singer!’”
TT: ‘Yeah.”
KJ: “So I went forward. But when Ben was doing that doc, he was just filming me for something else, and he overheard me talking to one of the guys in the management. He said, ‘What did you just say? What have you been going through?’ I said, ‘Oh no, it’s nothing. I don’t want to make all that in the film.’ He said, ‘Have you got footage of all that stuff then?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ I had to, because I had to send it to his guy who was giving me vocal exercises. So, I had all this stuff, and he was like, ‘Oh, I’ll have that.’ And then he made the whole film about that recovery process.”
DB: “So what was the original diagnoses for that? How did it all come about?”
KJ: “It was called a one-off trauma polyp on my vocal cords.”
TT: “Great name for a heavy metal band.”
KJ: “Which was weird, because he said, ‘This is probably not from singing.’ And I had a recall where I went to the gym one day, and I’d had a really crap day, and I’d left my keys in my house, and I let out a massive F…”
DB: “Good save, yeah.”
KJ: “One of them in the car, right? And I think that’s what did it. He said that blokes get it at the football, shouting at the football and stuff like that. But as a singer, you can leave it, but then it starts effecting you, or they cut it off. So, the one person I know I can talk to about this is Tom Jones. So, I called Tom Jones.”
TT: “That’s a nice option to have. Whenever I’m going through stuff…”
DB: “‘Hi Tom, trauma polyp. Have you got five minutes?’”
KJ: “He said, ‘Oh, don’t talk to me about those.’ He said, ‘Just before I made that song Kiss, I was struggling with my range. He had a look and said it was like a mountain range in there – polyps all over it!’ So, he said, ‘Just make sure they use a knife and not a laser.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Because Julie Andrews had a laser, and when they used the laser, after the heat contraction, the vocal cords separate, and she was never able to sing properly again.’ With a knife they slice it off. When I went in to see the surgeon, I said, ‘Are you using a knife or a laser?’ He said, ‘I’m not using a knife.’ So, I said [on the phone], ‘Tom, he said it’s alright, he’s using a knife.’ ‘Alright,’ he said. ‘You go ahead with it!’”
Key
Kelly Jones – KJ
Toby Tarrant – TT
Dominic Byrne – DB
TT: “Now, I’m not a doctor. But a mutual friend of ours, Ben, who directed the documentary about your throat thing, which thankfully you’ve fully recovered from.”
KJ: “I spoke to Ben this morning.”
TT: “Oh did you? I love Ben, he’s a lovely, lovely chap. So, have you noticed any difference? Because in the documentary, obviously, you’re cured, but have you noticed any difference at all?”
KJ: “It’s better since then, weirdly, because I put the work in, doing the rehab and all that. I never had singing lessons or anything as a kid. In fact, I did my first gig – I was 12 – in a band, and there were other kids in the band that were singing, and I kept being pushed forward to be the singer because my old man was a singer. I never wanted to be a singer; I was happy in the back with a guitar. And as years went on, I became more and more in the front of all these different bands as a kid, but I never really took it that seriously. And then I think I’d been listening to some Chris Cornell records, and one day I just went for this Temple Of The Dog song, and I thought, ‘What’s that?’ This thing came out, and I thought, ‘Well, I’ll be the singer!’”
TT: ‘Yeah.”
KJ: “So I went forward. But when Ben was doing that doc, he was just filming me for something else, and he overheard me talking to one of the guys in the management. He said, ‘What did you just say? What have you been going through?’ I said, ‘Oh no, it’s nothing. I don’t want to make all that in the film.’ He said, ‘Have you got footage of all that stuff then?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ I had to, because I had to send it to his guy who was giving me vocal exercises. So, I had all this stuff, and he was like, ‘Oh, I’ll have that.’ And then he made the whole film about that recovery process.”
DB: “So what was the original diagnoses for that? How did it all come about?”
KJ: “It was called a one-off trauma polyp on my vocal cords.”
TT: “Great name for a heavy metal band.”
KJ: “Which was weird, because he said, ‘This is probably not from singing.’ And I had a recall where I went to the gym one day, and I’d had a really crap day, and I’d left my keys in my house, and I let out a massive F…”
DB: “Good save, yeah.”
KJ: “One of them in the car, right? And I think that’s what did it. He said that blokes get it at the football, shouting at the football and stuff like that. But as a singer, you can leave it, but then it starts effecting you, or they cut it off. So, the one person I know I can talk to about this is Tom Jones. So, I called Tom Jones.”
TT: “That’s a nice option to have. Whenever I’m going through stuff…”
DB: “‘Hi Tom, trauma polyp. Have you got five minutes?’”
KJ: “He said, ‘Oh, don’t talk to me about those.’ He said, ‘Just before I made that song Kiss, I was struggling with my range. He had a look and said it was like a mountain range in there – polyps all over it!’ So, he said, ‘Just make sure they use a knife and not a laser.’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Because Julie Andrews had a laser, and when they used the laser, after the heat contraction, the vocal cords separate, and she was never able to sing properly again.’ With a knife they slice it off. When I went in to see the surgeon, I said, ‘Are you using a knife or a laser?’ He said, ‘I’m not using a knife.’ So, I said [on the phone], ‘Tom, he said it’s alright, he’s using a knife.’ ‘Alright,’ he said. ‘You go ahead with it!’”
