AC/DC singer Brian Johnson has thanked the medical experts who have saved his hearing with pioneering new treatment.
AC/DC singer Brian Johnson believes the “magical” medical treatment he’s been receiving has saved his hearing.
The 73-year-old rocker was ordered to stop performing live four years ago or end up going completely deaf but after undergoing an undisclosed “brand new” course of treatment, he’s back with the band, who have just released new album ‘Power Up’, and he’s hopeful that the sense has been restored.
He said: "It's non-disclosure stuff because it's brand new. What I can tell you is I worked for three years with this lovely old fellas and thankfully it worked, I think.
"It took a while. But it was just magical. It could have been smoke and mirrors, but it wasn't, it was the real deal.
"So we'll go forward with him. I'm still working with him. And I've got my fingers crossed.”
The ‘Shoot To Thrill’ singer recalled how he felt he was “letting the band down” when his hearing first started to deteriorate and he worried about becoming a “dead weight” to the group.
He said: “At the time it was horrible. I really felt I was letting the band down on stage. Because I couldn't hear the tone of the guitars, I couldn't get my pitch or key. You felt helpless.
“And of course, the band's being let down, the fans are being let down ... It's just not fair. I never wanted to be dead weight."
But the rest of the group didn’t want to put any pressure on Brian.
Bandmate Angus Young said: "Brian got a lot of advice from the medical side and they were pretty much saying, 'If you continue, you're going to go stone deaf,’ so that’s also part of it. We didn’t want that.”
Brian added: “That's what Angus and Cliff said, 'We do not want to be responsible for anything that happens to you. We would feel awful forever."
And the singer admitted he thought his career was over when he first stepped away from the band, prompting him to hit the bottle.
Asked if he thought his career had come to an end, he said: "Initially yeah. And of course it's a difficult time for anybody who has to stop doing what they love. That's not easy. But you do it.
“You've got to man up and just shut your mouth and don't talk to anybody, which I didn't, and just ride it out.
"In my case, I buried my head in a bottle of whisky for the first month. It was quite numbing.
“And I'm not on social media, so I don't read anything, I don't watch anything. I've never been on it and I've stuck off it.
"And I've found that I'm quite a sensible, rounded man who can take things on the chin."
On the same day that Glastonbury welcomed back Margate's adopted sons, The Libertines, Margate itself put on it's very own Leisure Festival as it...
Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.
Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...
When Gerry Anderson began his filmmaking career in the 60s, he was approached to create...
In 1989, Maria Rossi killed two priests and a nun whilst having an exorcism performed...