Heather Small was forced to cancel gigs due to severe asthma (Image: Getty)
Heather Small, best known as the leader singer of M People, confessed that her health issues were so severe at times that she had to pull out of gigs.
Unable to sing due to suffering from asthma, the 60-year-old admitted she was forced to scrap costly recording sessions.
She explained: “My symptoms would get so bad. My chest would be so tight and I’d be wheezing so much, I couldn’t sing. I would have to pull out of gigs as I felt so awful… and cancelling studio time is so expensive.
“The asthma played havoc with my breathing, making me short of breath and irritating my lungs.”
Heather added: “I also suffered from nerves before going on stage and I’d worry it would trigger an asthma attack, so I’d try my hardest not to get too nervous.”
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Heather has struggled with allergies for the duration of her life (Image: (Image: Getty))
The Proud hitmaker identified dairy products such as milk and yoghurt as additional contributors to her condition, remarking that they “were very mucus-forming”.
“That built up in my throat, which would then affect my voice,” she elaborated.
After being encouraged by a holistic practitioner to eliminate dairy from her meals, and acting on that advice, Heather saw a significant improvement in her asthma.
“Since then I haven’t had to cancel any shows. It’s been a revelation,” Heather shared with back in 2016.
Asthma isn’t the only thing that Heather has battled as she has also had a lifelong struggle with allergies.
“I was always a sickly child and was diagnosed with an allergy to feathers,” she recounted. I had an eiderdown [duvet] full of them and was really ill when I went to bed, but when I was in my mum’s room I was fine.”
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In 2022, Heather triumphantly released her first solo album in 16 years (Image: (Image: Getty))
“The doctor told my mum, ‘you’re slowly killing your daughter’, so we realised that we had to get rid of the duvet quickly.”
The Moving on Up singer also suffers from a severe allergy to cats, which makes her feel “very ill”.
“It wasn’t until much later in life that blood tests finally confirmed I was allergic to animals, dust and feathers,” the star disclosed.
In addition to her struggles with asthma and allergies, Heather also copes with eczema.
“When it got bad I used steroid cream as a last resort. I also had to be really careful about my clothing. Man-made fabrics don’t help,” she shared.
Despite these health challenges, Heather triumphantly released her first solo album in 16 years, titled Colour My Life, in 2022.