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3 Musicians Who Spoke About Smoking and Voice Problems

Three musicians directly discussed smoking and voice problems, but their accounts involve different substances and circumstances. Joni Mitchell, by contrast, said she did not believe smoking caused her laryngeal lesion.
Opened Runtime4 min Written byDocumentaryTube Team
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Three musicians in the available reporting directly connected smoking with voice problems: Vishal Dadlani, Kehlani and Andra Day. Their accounts involve different substances and circumstances, and none supports a simple claim that smoking alone caused every symptom. Joni Mitchell is a useful contrast: she acknowledged smoking could irritate her larynx but said she did not believe it caused her lesion.

What the accounts establish—and what they don’t

The headline’s count needs correcting: the documented first-person accounts here support three musicians, not ten. They are not interchangeable cases. Dadlani discussed cigarettes and vaping alongside intense vocal use; Kehlani spoke about marijuana; Day described smoking cigarettes while preparing for a film role. Their statements are personal accounts, not a controlled comparison or proof that smoke was the sole cause of an injury.

Three musicians who linked smoking with voice problems

Vishal Dadlani: cigarettes, vaping and heavy vocal use

In a post reported by the Hindustan Times on February 18, 2020, the Indian singer and composer said he quit smoking on the last day of August 2019. He described nine years of smoking “40+ cigarettes a day,” followed by a year of vaping, as well as what he called severe abuse of his voice at concerts and during recordings. He wrote that his voice had “almost given up”: his range, control and tone were wobbling, and he could not sing softly.

Dadlani said that almost six months after quitting, his voice was “almost back to what it used to be.” He also reported improvement in clean tone and control, while noting that his control was not perfect. Because his account includes heavy vocal use and vaping as well as cigarettes, it does not isolate cigarettes as the cause of his symptoms. The cigarette figure is his reported personal history, not a population statistic.

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Kehlani: marijuana smoke and vocal fatigue

In a TikTok video reported by AllHipHop on August 3, 2021, the U.S. R&B singer spoke about marijuana smoking. Kehlani said it “really really messed with my vocal cords” and took energy from her day. She also described her throat and lungs as tired and said she had been “ouid free” since 2018.

This is an account about marijuana smoke, not tobacco cigarettes. It describes Kehlani’s experience; it does not establish a diagnosis or prove that marijuana affects every singer in the same way.

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Andra Day: cigarettes while preparing for a role

In an Associated Press interview published May 30, 2024, the U.S. singer and actor said smoking cigarettes while preparing to portray Billie Holiday in The United States vs. Billie Holiday affected her voice. Asked about damage, Day said, “There was some hemorrhaging. You could see inflamed blood vessels.” She described difficulty hitting notes, said the experience made her question whether smoking was the right decision, and said her voice seemed to be starting to recover.

Day said smoking was her choice for the role, not a requirement. Her account ties the voice effects to smoking during that preparation, but does not establish that smoking was the only factor involved.

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Why Joni Mitchell is not a fourth admission

A 1994 Independent interview described Joni Mitchell as having a wound or lesion on her larynx and having lost some high range. Mitchell said, “I grasped that smoking was an irritant,” but added, “I didn’t believe it was a cause.” The interviewer’s account mentions doctors attributing the lesion to smoking; that reported medical opinion is distinct from Mitchell’s own stated view. She therefore does not fit a list of musicians who admitted smoking caused their voice damage.

What clinical guidance says about smoke and the voice

Cleveland Clinic otolaryngologist Natasha Hrelec, MD, explains that smoke passes the vocal cords and can irritate them, contributing to soreness, mucus and cough. Singers may notice changes particularly in high pitches, where the vocal folds stretch and swelling can become more apparent. Potential effects described in the clinic’s explainer include chronic laryngitis, swelling, hoarseness and vocal-fold growths.

This general clinical information cannot establish what caused any individual musician’s symptoms. The same explainer says evidence about marijuana-related voice changes is limited and that vaping’s effects on vocal cords are not well understood. It advises people who smoke and have voice changes lasting more than three weeks to seek evaluation by a laryngologist or an ear, nose and throat specialist.

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Why a ten-person list would be misleading

A smoking history, a voice disorder and a clinician’s general explanation do not by themselves amount to a musician admitting that smoking damaged their voice. For example, a 2011 report about Adele’s surgery for a benign vocal-fold polyp discussed smoking cessation and included a physician’s explanation of how smoking could contribute to inflammation. It did not establish that Adele herself said smoking caused her polyp; the physician also said he had not treated her.

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John Mellencamp is a different kind of counterexample: in a 2017 CBS News report, he described smoking as helping him get the rougher voice he wanted. That is not an admission of harm. Counting either case as a musician acknowledging smoking-related vocal damage would blur important differences in what the people actually said.

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