The lost voice

The lost voice A memoir

Greta Morgan, 1988-

Book - 2025

"A poignant, tenacious memoir by musician Greta Morgan chronicling how she rediscovered her artistic voice after losing her ability to sing. Greta Morgan was on the rise. She was a touring member of Vampire Weekend, performed with Jenny Lewis, and garnered critical acclaim with her own musical projects. But in March 2020, after contracting Covid-19, she was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological disorder with no known cure that left her unable to sing. Her once crystalline voice now reduced to a hush, she saw her career come to an abrupt standstill. Beyond the physical ramifications, what does it mean to cultivate a true voice? Morgan's loss launches her into a journey of grief and self-discovery, forcing her to broade...n her artistic horizons and reconstruct her sense of self. Her narrative takes us on a whirlwind tour of music studios, band buses, and celebrity-filled backstage parties, but it also takes us to the red canyons of Utah and the spacious wilderness of the American Southwest. In these vast landscapes, Morgan finds unexpected community. In the silence, she learns how to listen to parts of herself she has neglected. Questioning the purpose of creativity and what defines artistic passion, The Lost Voice is a raw and intimate portrait of grief, self-discovery, and the choice to keep living and creating."--

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Subjects
Morgan, Greta, > 1988-
Singers > United States > Biography.
Spasmodic dysphonia > Patients > Biography.
Autobiographies.
Genres
Autobiographies
Published
New York, NY : HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers [2025]
Language
English
Main Author
Greta Morgan, 1988- (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
287 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9780063411968
  • 1. Something Is Wrong
  • 2. Someone Who Needed to Write Songs
  • 3. Can You Sing It More Like This?
  • 4. I Could Destroy You, But I Won't Waste My Time
  • 5. No Home, No Partner, No Job
  • 6. The Desert Cracks You Open
  • 7. Used to Be a Singer
  • 8. Turn That Ache Into an Offering
  • 9. You're Gonna Need a Lot More Truth
  • 10. The Pure Voice
  • Acknowledgments
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Singer-songwriter Morgan debuts with a poetic account of losing her voice as a complication of Covid-19. Raised by a music-loving family in Chicago's suburbs, Morgan learned to express herself through music ("Songs were like keys opening doors within me"). In high school, she joined the band The Hush Sound, which netted her a recording contract and, eventually, a career touring and recording with the likes of Fall Out Boy, Gold Motel, and Vampire Weekend. After a bout of Covid in March 2020, Morgan lost the upper range of her singing voice to spasmodic dysphonia and feared she would never sing again. She meditated, grieved, and saw magic mushroom--induced visions of a ghostly Leonard Cohen, who told her, "You'll get your voice back when you figure out what to say." After undergoing targeted Botox treatments in 2021, Morgan regained her full range. Here, she expresses gratitude for the opportunity to catalog all that music had given her and rediscover "the song of my life" while she was unable to sing. Morgan's portrait of musicianship as a spiritual concern is resonant and convincing, and she tempers it with candid discussions of the indignities of life on tour. It's a must for music lovers. Agent: Alice Whitwham, Cheney Agency. (May)

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