In 1999, doctors diagnosed
Chris Barron with a vocal cord ailment that they said would leave him unable to sing -- and maybe even speak -- for the rest of his life. And in 2001 the remaining members of
the Spin Doctors,
Barron and drummer
Aaron Comess, decided to take a hiatus from the tumultuous pop group to focus on side projects. So, it wasn't looking like fans of pop music would ever hear from
Chris Barron again. Luckily, he had a miraculous recovery (after a silent year) and then self-released the album
Shag in 2001. The album contains 11 songs that are better than many of the tunes on recent
Spin Doctors albums. It is moving to hear
Chris Barron's voice back to normal, if a bit restrained, and
Shag signifies a rebirth for
Barron as an artist. For the first time he is calling the shots and expressing a singular artistic voice.