DEL Amitri frontman Justin Currie has said his Parkinson’s diagnosis has “already changed” his personality although “not necessarily in negative ways”.
The singer revealed his diagnosis last month and said it came about after he suspected something was wrong when he had difficulty holding his guitar plectrum.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, the singer said he knew the illness would get worse and that he was unable to play in the way he used to.
“I know I’m going to have to stop whereas formerly, people like me would never want to stop,” he said.
“We’d want to be singing in a pub at the age of 80 and being dragged off by our grandchildren in embarrassment.
“The idea of having to stop, that’s quite grim.”
The singer has now produced a documentary to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the impact of Parkinson’s on his work as a performer.
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He explained that he had also adjusted how he sings although it was “hard to know which is disease and which is just age”.
“I seem to have lost a bit of diaphragm control. Parkinson’s generally makes you a bit feeble and I think that’s kind of effecting how I hit the notes.
“So it’s harder for me now to get up there and get onto the notes whereas before I think that was a bit more easy.
“Singing is never easy and it shouldn’t be. Singing shouldn’t be hard but now I have to really, really concentrate.”
Asked about the possibility of not being on stage anymore, Currie said: “Not having dates in the diary. The reality of that is not good.
“Whenever we’re in a position where we don’t have something in the future booked, I feel completely rootless.
“I feel completely at sea because I don’t have that appearance on stage in the future to be the sort of focus of everything in my life so I’ll need to go and do good deeds or something.
“I’ve led this incredibly selfish life where I’ve basically got to do whatever I want to do. I’ve not had a boss since 1986 or something so I’ll have to grow up at some point.”
He continued: “It’s already changed my personality, not necessarily in negative ways. Any form of disability you become aware of disability in general.
“And you become acutely aware of that line that disabled people have been saying for years that there aren’t able-bodied people, there are a lot of people who are not yet disabled.
“I quite like the idea that we’re all going to go through some of these difficulties at some point in life.
“I’m just much more aware of the kind of needs and the kind of space that people need when they’re struggling to move about.”
Currie added: “In bleaker days, it gets on top of you. But there are surprising long moments of reprieve.”
You can find out more information about Parkinson's HERE, including symptoms and help on seeking medical advice.
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