No more Sound Of Music: Julie Andrews reveals she will NEVER sing again after botched op

Julie Andrews has spoken candidly about how she will no longer be able to sing because of a botched operation on her vocal chords.
The Sound of Music star, whose voice used to span four octaves, said that despite her best efforts the 1997 procedure has caused permanent damage.
Speaking in frank terms she said it had 'left me without a voice' - and revealed that she can now only hit bass notes.

Botched op: Julie Andrews will no longer be able to sing after having surgery on her vocal chords

British-born Andrews, who made her Broadway debut at the age of 19, had gone under the knife to remove non-cancerous throat nodules.
But when the procedure left her unable to sing professionally and emotionally devastated, she sued the New York surgeon who carried it out, later reaching a settlement.
In an interview Andrews yesterday said she can still speak 'pretty well' but that her vocal range is limited to lower notes and nothing else.

Sound Of Music: eft her unable to sing professionally and emotionally devastated, she sued the New York surgeon who carried it out, later reaching a settlement

She said: 'So if you wanted a rendition of 'Old Man River' you might get it, but I'm not singing as much these days.'
Andrews, 77, added: 'The operation that I had left me without a voice and without a certain piece of my vocal chords'.
Andrews has sung publicly a few times in recent years including a concert in London in 2010, but she called those performances 'speak singing'.

The voice of a generation: Julie Andrews became a household name playing Maria in the 1965

Instead she has begun narrating books and has theatre directing including an adaptation of her book 'The Great American Musical' which is about a troop of mice who live beneath a stage.
Andrews said that not being able to sing meant she had to find a 'different way' of using her voice.
And paraphrasing a line from her Sound of Music character Maria von Trapp, she said: 'When one door closes another window opens.'