SCOTS pop queen Annie Lennox has revealed she feared being crippled for life – after a horror back injury forced her into a wheelchair.
The multi-million selling diva cancelled a planned concert in Mexico after she underwent major back surgery to release a trapped nerve.
Lennox, 54, has just completed six months of intensive physiotherapy and admits she might never be able to perform a full concert again.
The former-Eurythmics singer will celebrate a long-waited return to the stage at a charity performance at the Cannes Film Festival to raise funds for Aids research.
Annie said: “When I had the surgery, I didn’t even know if I would be able to walk again properly.
“My foot is still not right – it still has some weird thing that is kind of permanently numb. And it is a strange thing to live with really.
“I have been doing physical therapy and I still don’t know if it will ever be back to normal again.
“But it’s just one of those things – you just have to be pragmatic when things like that happen.”
Exclusive charity auction
Lennox returns to performing hits such as Sweet Dreams and No More I Love You’s for 800 VIP guests at the amfAR gala event next month.
The exclusive dinner and auction event at a select hotel in Antibes is widely-expected to top the £7 million raised last year.
The Aberdeen-born singer, who has sold over 80 million records worldwide, said a US interview: “I don’t think I could do a normal concert any more at this point in time.
“I am able to sit at a piano, and I function and I can stand. But I don’t think I am at the stage where I could.
Two years ago the eight-time Brit Award winner became involved in Aids-related fundraising after she performed in front of Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
Mother’s issue
She subsequently persuaded 23 top female stars, including fellow Scot KT Tunstall, to record the Sing single whose proceeds go towards projects aimed at women sufferers.
Annie said: “The trip to South Africa was a revelation to me. I hadn’t truly appreciated the pandemic is affecting women primarily and children.
“My own children were born here in safety and with good health so the HIV/Aids issue in Africa, it’s a mother’s issue as well.”
A spokesperson for amfAR said: “We are delighted to have Annie participating in the event and performing some songs.
“We are raising money for amfAR, the American foundation for Aids research, but our work is global.”
