R&B veteran Tank is letting fans in on his ongoing health issues. The well respected artist has always been known for his impressive vocal ability. Easily one of the most talented in the genre, Tank has a handful of hit records to his name and has also helped craft hits for the likes of Aaliyah, Kelly Rowland, Jennifer Hudson and more. Unfortunately, he might not be able to make music as he used to do to ongoing hearing loss currently effecting him. While he’s remained optimistic these last few months, it appears things are still moving in a bad direction for him.
Tank sat down with the ladies of The Real to talk about his hearing loss. In the clip, titled “Part I: Tank Confirms He’s Completely Deaf in One Ear, Talks Retirement & Inspiring a New Generation”, he discusses how he is now completely deaf in one ear.
Host Adrienne Bailon-Houghton recounted reports from earlier in the year that Tank was not only deaf in one ear but losing hearing in the other as well.
Tank opens up saying that the initial diagnosis was “scary.” “I need to hear” he said with a nervous giggle, “thats kind of what all of this is based on.”
He updates the hosts saying “I am still deaf in my right ear, but the left ear Is really strong. Left ear is picking up the slack.”
Adrienne commended him for being so cool and so chill despite what he is currently going through. She asked him to recap when he noticed what was going on and how.
“I’m shooting a movie and I’m thinking that maybe my ear is clogged up. Maybe I got too much soap in it. Over the next three days it just goes from feeling, you know, like something I can handle to something I can’t. You know, then I started the medicine and all of these things. The hardest part for me was the medicine. It wasn’t even the ear part of it man. Anyone who knows anything about Prednisone you know that that’s a very very damaging steroid.” He mentions that due to the medication he did not feel like himself for a long time.
He says he eventually got off the medicine and began coming to terms with the idea that he will only be able to hear from one ear going forward. He says he began working on finding the balance there, and finding the strength to move from there was better for him. He is now able to get back on tour, back on stages and back to making music.
Tank says he is blessed to be able to move on the way he has and understands that it could have been way worst for him.
Adrienne reminded Tank and the audience of his original goal when announcing his hearing loss back in the spring. He wanted his situation to encourage people and keep them motivated through tough times. “Where do you find such strength?” asked Adrienne.
Tank responds, “That’s kind of how my life has been. If you look at my music, transparency and honesty has always been the foundation of my career and so you know when it comes to something like this like it’s about people. We are all the same on more levels than we realize. Just because I’m here and you guys are on tv, people forget that we are all human beings. We are all sometimes struggling with the same things.”
He goes on to say that he is not retiring because of losing his hearing, but that it did inspire him to pay more attention to other projects. He wants to work on other things and really focus in on his artist Feather who is signed to Motown, his film career, stand-up goals and other things.
