Charly Reynolds has always loved belting out the legendary Martina McBride hit “ Independence Day”. She loved the way her voice soared on the powerful notes- & never felt as if those notes were too tough to hit.
That is, until April last year.
“Suddenly, I was having trouble singing,” Reynolds, 23, recalls to People in a recent interview.
“But I didn’t stop singing. I just was singing too much. I was taking on too much. Maybe I was just tired.”
But the Florida native who moved to the outskirts of Nashville when she was just 18 years old was more than tired. By August 2022, Reynolds could not sing for longer than 30 minutes without losing her voice. Soon, she made a trip to the doctor- who determined that there was a much bigger problem.
“My vocal cords were very inflamed & hemorrhaged, & bloody, ” remembers Reynolds, who soon after put on a month-long vocal test. “ It was just the total opposite of what you ‘re hoping to see”
In December, Charly Reynolds realized that her vocal issues were continuing & eventually, Reynolds made the decision to undergo surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
“Scar tissue had developed on my vocal cords, ” Reynolds says, “ I decided to do the surgery now rather than wait five years, you know”.
