Art Garfunkel - Art Garfunkel Fighting To Get His Voice Back For 2011 Dates

The legendary duo was forced to scrap dates on their 2010 Old Friends tour of North America when Bright Eyes singer Garfunkel was diagnosed with vocal cord paresis.

He has been rehabbing his voice ever since and now admits he's beginning to get his tone back.

Of his return to the stage, Garfunkel tells Billboard.com, "Late 2011, I feel in my bones, in my cells, that that's the scenario.

"At the rate the voice is coming back, I should be in pretty good shape by, as the corporations say, the fourth quarter of 2011.

"I'm being challenged by the Lord to have patience, real patience. It's coming along slowly, painfully, excruciatingly slow. I try and stay off the subject and not bemoan anything. But I'm never going to give up on my crusade to return to the stage... I swear to you we'll do those dates (we cancelled)."

Meanwhile, the singer is using the hiatus to write a memoir.

He adds, "I've been cooking along... being poignant, getting the reader to feel touched, like, 'This guy's got something to say'."