Emily Saliers Reveals Cervical Dystonia and Essential Tremor Diagnosis

Emily Saliers, one half of the Indigo Girls alongside Amy Ray, has shared that she is living with two long term health conditions that will impact how she sings on the group’s upcoming tour.

Saliers explained that she has “had this diagnosis for a while” in a message shared on the band’s Instagram page on Saturday April 18, adding that “the conditions get incrementally worse over time.”

In a video filmed during rehearsals in Atlanta, she said she wanted to be fully open about what she has been dealing with, including cervical dystonia, which is a neurological movement disorder, and essential tremor, which affects the nervous system.

“Many of you have noticed that my voice maybe all of you have noticed, it’s pretty noticeable that my voice is not what it once was,” she said in the clip. “So I wanted to share with you that I’ve been diagnosed with two movement disorders. One is called cervical dystonia with torticollis, which basically is in the part of my brain that controls movement … And in other people with this condition, the brain sends signals to tighten muscles. So because of the cervical dystonia, my head twists to the right and is misaligned. It can cause shaking of the head. It’s impossible for me to hold my head centrally without shaking, things like that. So structurally, obviously, that is problematic for this whole throat area.”

Saliers continued, “But the other diagnosis, which is harder in fact for me, is an essential tremor. And the essential tremor causes involuntary shakes or movement, and it affects all the parts of my singing apparatus, the larynx, the pharyngeal muscles, my jaw and my diaphragm from which I get all the air for singing. So I’m unable to make the connections muscularly and structurally because of the essential tremor. What else the essential tremor does is give me this I am gonna call it horrible, because it’s horrible to me vibrato that I never used to have. I am completely physically unable to hold a straight tone the way I used to.”

“What you, our community, have come to, I think, appreciate and love about some of our harmonies is the way we can hold long straight tones together. So I want to give you a heads up about that, in full transparency,” she said.

The Indigo Girls, whose albums Swamp Ophelia and Shaming of the Sun reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200 in the mid 1990s, who have had five releases reach the top 5 on the Americana and Folk Albums chart, and who are Grammy winners after earning best contemporary folk recording in 1990 for their self titled Indigo Girls project, are set to begin a United States tour this week. The run starts in Athens, Ohio, on Friday April 24, with dates planned through mid December.

Saliers outlined her current treatment routine, which includes massage therapy, physical therapy, chiropractic sessions, acupuncture, and Botox injections in her neck and shoulders, all aimed at helping manage the symptoms. She also shared that she is working with a vocal coach who specializes in supporting singers with movement disorders.

“Unfortunately there’s no cure for these, so the honest fact is that my voice will not be what it was,” she said of her diagnoses. “That’s really hard for me. Amy’s been super supportive, and we want you to know that as we get ready for these shows, we are doing everything we can to make the songs sound as good as they can possibly sound or ever sound, which includes all the modern digital tools that front of house engineers use to help singers sound better.”

Later in the video, Saliers added, “I hate that I’m only 62 and it’s happened to me, but we are both aging. People age. We are trying to look at this organically as a process of our own aging.”

Saliers received support from Ray in the video, along with messages from fellow artists and fans online.

“You are the definition of authenticity, courage and grace,” Chely Wright wrote in a comment, echoing what many others were saying.

Longtime fan Brandi Carlile, who covered the Indigo Girls’ “Cannonball” on her 2017 Cover Stories album, also shared the duo’s video on her own Instagram and wrote, “This is why these two have been my heroes and the only reason I ever picked up a guitar. Being an @indigogirls fan is a life long privilege. Indigo Girls fans already have an evolved perspective on aging and a deeper understanding of how badass vulnerability really is. This is because of the music they have given us. Wisdom breeds wisdom. To say we have Emily’s back is the understatement of the century. If you love to sing, Emily, sing. We will be there singing with you. We are the luckiest fans in the world we know our verses, and we know the words to every song. Let’s sing them back at the Indigo Girls louder than ever.”