Marc Almond: Fighting back

11 February 2005

Marc Almond: slow recovery

IT'S a shock to see Marc Almond at the moment. The near-fatal bike crash he suffered in October has left him a very shaken man. When he walks in the room he does so carefully, his 5ft 6ins frame looking very fragile.

His right arm is almost a dead weight, which Marc can only move a little and only in certain directions. A large scar runs over his right ear, barely covered by his now grey hair which, for the moment, he is keeping shaved until his skin isn't so sensitive to the hair dye he's fond of using.

"I'm having good days and bad days really," says the 48-year-old. "But mostly good days. A bad day is when I feel every single injury. It's affected by the weather actually.

"If it's raining and cold then I can feel every single thing. It's strange to think that it was only just over three months ago. I was expecting a much longer recovery period than I've had. I've surprised everybody.

"I can't use my right arm very well though, which is frustrating as I'm a singer who likes to use my arm for drama."

Marc's "miraculous" recovery has been driven mostly by his own steely determination. While physically he tires easily, mentally the old energy that has propelled a 25-year career in music still burns strong.

"I do feel a very different person in some ways," he reveals sadly. "I won't be the me that I was, my confidence has been shattered. I have attacks of nerves and panic attacks. But I've been doing things since the accident to get that back again.

"I've had that mindset almost since I first woke up. The first thing I had to eat was a plate of mashed potato and baked beans with gravy and I thought, I can't tolerate this, I have to get out of here," he laughs.

"And having someone take me to the bathroom as well. I thought, this is not me, I can't do this. It was also the incredible response I had from fans and musicians and singers who'd sent me messages."

Even though the stammer which plagued his teenage years has returned, it hasn't stopped Marc doing interviews.

And with critical and personal success, performances at various festivals and the publication of his latest book In Search Of The Pleasure Palace, last year was shaping up to be Marc's best yet.

"Everything was going fantastically," he nods. "I was full of confidence and optimism for the future, and then this happened."

On October 17, Marc was in buoyant mood. He'd enjoyed his friend Siouxsie Sioux's show at the Royal Festival Hall the night before, with a screening of The Incredibles that morning. A dim sum lunch was followed by a visit to an art show in Regent's Park.

Then, riding pillion on a friend's motorbike past what Marc calls "the dramatic setting" of St Paul's Cathedral, they collided with a car.

The singer fractured his skull in two places, shattered his right shoulder, perforated his eardrum and suffered a collapsed lung. He also suffered two massive blood clots and had to undergo emergency surgery twice.

"I don't remember anything," he says. "I've had it pieced together since. Strangely, the only thing I remember is that somebody was playing Laurie Anderson's Oh Superman. I wondered why I had this song in my head, and I was told afterwards that it was playing in a car that had its door open.

He pauses. "I could never go on a bike again. Even though I've ridden on bikes for years, I couldn't because I believe it would be kicking good luck in the teeth.

"I've always been a pillion rider but I've even owned a couple of bikes. I thought they were beautiful. And I'd decided this was the year I was actually going to learn to ride one.

"On the very day of the accident I said to my friend who was driving, 'Being on a bike will change my life'."

Marc was unconscious for 10 days. His mother came down from their hometown of Southport and was told to prepare herself for the possibility her son might be brain-damaged. Doctors were close to performing a tracheotomy which would probably have ended Marc's singing career.

"When I woke up I thought I'd been taken prisoner," he remembers. "I thought I was being tortured. I thought some horrible sick joke was being played on me by friends. I even thought that this has been my life all along, and everything else had been a dream."

Marc's main concern now is getting back up on stage. His stammer hasn't affected his singing and he's desperate to get back to doing what he loves most.

"As soon as I'm able to do that, I will. One part of me says hire the venue now, show me the stage, prop me up against the microphone. But unfortunately it's not as easy as that.

"It will be quite emotional when I do it because I do feel lucky to be here. I'm lucky to be alive.