Delta Goodrem explains silence over tongue paralysis battle: ‘I really didn’t want to share that story for a long time’

The singer, 36, talks Neighbours, getting flowers from Sir Elton John, and a strange obsession with Olivia Newton-John.

You’ve got a new album out. Are we allowed to call this a comeback?

I mean, definitely in the UK. It’s been way too long since I’ve been there and I truly look forward to getting back. The UK was so kind to me when I first started. With that first record, it was such a magnificent time to fly to the other side of the world and do Top Of The Pops and experience those moments that happen that are lightning in a bottle. The Australians keep me really busy back here but I’ve got my passport ready.

Because you were on Neighbours, did people think of you as a Kylie or Dannii rather than a real musician who played piano and wrote songs?

I think I’ve had different chapters. People will always relate to you the way they first knew you. For some, I’m Delta from Neighbours, for some a judge on The Voice in Australia. You keep moving into a new ‘Delta from…’ Sometimes music will take on a big part for you, then TV will become bigger.

Wasn’t your first album the second best-selling Australian album of all time?

Who is the first?! We need to find that out. I actually think it was AC/DC. It wasn’t Dire Straits? No, they’re not Australian. The reason they came to my head is I was chasing them down for the longest No.1.

And you have a book out that ties in with the record…

Yeah, the book doesn’t exist without the record and the record doesn’t exist without the book. I started working on this reset, where I went back to the very start. I went through this whole paralysis of my tongue thing and I just had to go quiet and listen.

Paralysis of the tongue?

Yeah. I had a very simple routine operation of a gland that was being a bit naughty and got infected, to put it really scientifically, and basically, after the operation, when I woke up I realised there was nerve damage. I actually had a flight booked for the UK – this was 2018 – but I ended up having to go to ground and go to speech therapy. I didn’t have any idea when it was going to get back to normal. It could be three months or three years.

But you knew it was going to come back? It wasn’t a Julie Andrews situation?

I believed in my heart. I really didn’t want to share that story for a long time and I was thankful that I had kept it quiet. But when we all went through what we went through with Covid, I realised there’s a silent battle for people right now. I thought, well, a lot of people are going through a reset so I wanted to share mine. I just went back to stories from the very beginning and started writing and this record came from asking, ‘How did I get here?’

One of the songs on the album is a letter to Elton John. What’s that about?

Being a piano girl, you can’t help but be in love with the master that is Elton John and he was one of the very first people in the UK to reach out to me, especially when I was diagnosed with cancer. He sent me a beautiful orchid and I was always so grateful for the way he always has the ability to give you that confidence and that inspiration. It came from a time when I was going back to basics on the record and saying, ‘OK, me and this piano are going to be spending a lot of time together.’

You’ve had the weirdest luck: you’re successful early on then you get cancer when you’re 18 and then the tongue thing…

I’ve definitely had extremes! [Laughs] Everybody’s journey is so different
and you can’t really predict anything. There have been a lot of stops and starts but I’ve got to keep the faith that everything happens for a reason. I can take the lessons I learn with me and it makes me a better person. I have to believe that music is healing and I can touch people’s lives through music, whether it’s 10 people or millions of people.

You’re big friends with that other Australian icon Olivia Newton-John, aren’t you? You even played her in a movie…

[Screams] She’s a guiding light, a mentor and has always been there for me. Getting to play her in the biopic, I’d call her up and say, ‘I’m on set in the Physical outfit!’ and send her the pictures.

You’re being a bit Single White Female, trying to steal her life!

[Laughs] She was the one saying, ‘You’re really enjoying this…’

And you live between LA and Sydney now, then?

As soon as the pandemic began, I came straight back to Australia. I haven’t been in Australia for this long for so many years so I was just really grateful to be grounded and be around family.

The album Bridge Over Troubled Dreams is out now.

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