Changing standards in the country music industry have led to more vocal surgeries for young artists, according to Rascal Flatts frontman Gary LeVox. The 44-year-old star dealt with throat problems of his own over the past year, including canceled shows and a controversial lip-synched ACM performance.
But he says it's the younger artists who have the toughest time staying healthy.
"You get a record deal, and you're trying to work your first or second or third single ... that's all it is, your whole life," he told Broadway's Electric Barnyard (via Taste of Country). "You're either talking about it, or you're singing about it. The most important thing is that you forget that you have to sleep, that you're human."
New artists have few opportunities for breaks.
"You can't say no, because you've waited your entire life to be in that position," he said. "So you're talking to radio two or three times a day, doing a show maybe once or twice a day on a radio tour. So I think it's just lack of rest. It takes a lot of hard work."
Another aspect: Young artists haven't put in the work on lower levels before getting called up to stardom.
"They haven't grown up playing in the clubs, and singing in honky tonks and doing that for five, six years," he said. "You're taking new vocal cords to the world. So they're really just breaking them in. Without rest and everything else, you start singing wrong, and it's like if you sprain an ankle, you start walking differently, and then you have hip problems and back problems. So it's that kind of thing."
LeVox and the rest of the group apologized to fans after lip synching their ACM performance. Check out the press conference below:
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