More than two years after he was paralysed from the chest down, rock singer Jon Davie is making his voice heard once again.
The former frontman of GutterGodz signalled his return to the scene at the start of this month, with a cover of Scottish rock band Gun’s version of Word Up! posted to his Facebook page.
The song received an outpouring of praise from fans and friends, thrilled to hear his recovery had progressed to the point where he could indulge his passion again.
But nobody is happier about it than himself.
He said: “I sing every day, when I’m in the toilet and the shower I’ve got my Alexa on, and I sing along to stuff like that anyway. I’ve always been a singer.
“I’m still trying to get back into the grips of singing, because the breathing and that sort of stuff is quite difficult for me. Trying to do it properly is quite difficult, it takes quite a lot of effort and practice.”
He was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where he was found to have broken his pelvis and his neck in three places.
What followed was a long period of gradually regaining strength, which did not come without its challenges.
Jon said: “I have regained more movement in my arms. Nothing major to write home about, but more arm function.
“I was getting on a bit with my legs, but I broke my foot about a year ago, so I wasn’t able to use my standing frame and I haven’t been able to use it since.
“But we’re hoping to get that back on the go soon, and be able to stand again so I can build muscle in my legs.”
He moved from Woodend Hospital to Craig Court in Milltimber in September 2018, then to the Sue Ryder neuro centre in Kincorth in December last year.
https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/aberdeen-musician-left-paralysed-after-a-mystery-incident-returns-home/
It was while he was stuck inside due to lockdown that Jon started to think about a return to music.
He said: “I’ve seen during the lockdown on Facebook so many people were doing these collaboration videos. Folk playing guitars, folk singing. So I put up a post, just saying, ‘how can I get involved?’, and there were some people who got back to me to say, ‘we’d love to do stuff’.
“My friend Kevin messaged me a couple of weeks ago and we started talking about the music, and he said he had a few things recorded but he can’t sing. So he said, do you want to try?
“He sent me Word Up!, and I said I’d give it a bash. I sat and recorded all the vocals for that, sent it back over, and he mixed it all.”
He is now looking ahead to creating some more of his own music, and hopes to find some collaborators to help him bring it to life.
“The ideal would be starting to record my own thing again. Obviously I can’t play instruments, and GarageBand doesn’t sound the best, so if I can write music then I can get other people to play it, and then I can just do the vocal parts for it.
“Hopefully I’ll have written the whole song, but that doesn’t mean it would just be me, it would have input from other people as well. If they’re wanting to help, they can help me write songs, giving me ideas.”
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