Shannon Noll’s incredible comeback after life-changing injury
Almost 15 years after he burst onto the scene as runner-up of the first season of Australian Idol and six years after his sixth album, Shannon Noll is about to make a comeback. But the 42-year-old rocker’s journey back to the spotlight hasn’t been an easy one.
The title of his new album Unbroken, set to be released in February, was inspired by his battle back to health after a back injury during his time on Dancing with the Stars in 2010 left him with permanent nerve damage.
Despite having undergone an emergency laminectomy, Noll says he’s still in chronic pain and “trips on stuff a lot" due to the damage to his nerves.
“A lot has happened over the past six or seven years and it took a long time to get past that back injury and get back to being fit,” he tells news.com.au.
“I also changed record labels and management, and that kept putting the album further and further back. There’s been lots of ups and downs and I got through it and now I am really enjoying touring probably more than I ever have.”
An altercation at an Adelaide strip club earlier this year inspired Noll to leave his “wild times” in the past and made him realise the importance of protecting his voice – after all, it has sold him more than 1.4 million albums and singles since 2003.
“I am really conscious of my voice now as well and I pride myself on singing to the best of my ability at every show,” he explains.
Unbroken features a number of songs inspired by his pride for his homeland and childhood love of Aussie anthems like “Great Southern Land” by Icehouse and GANGgajang’s “Sounds of Then (This is Australia)”.
“[The songs] hold a really special place in my heart because they celebrate who we are and our love of Australia,” he says. “I wouldn’t change a thing about who I am ... you know I have never been the cool guy and I think it’s time for people to appreciate how lucky we are in this country.”