Regina Belle Opens Up About Her Health Problems That She’s Kept Quiet For Years
Who could forget about the beautiful voice from R&B songstress, Regina Belle? In the late 80’s and 90’s, Belle was responsible for hit songs, such as “So Many Tears,” “Baby Come To Me,” and “Show Me the Way.” For 25 years, Belle has been belting out FIRE classics, but as we previously reported a few years ago, she experienced a health scare that almost caused her to abandon her musical career. Now, on a new episode of “Unsung,” Regina has opened up about her health problems again to give more details of what she fought through in order to survive.
Regina Belle Opens Up About Her Health Problems:
Before she became a musical star, Belle was a student at Rutgers University when she linked up with the Manhattans and scored her first hit, Where Did We Go Wrong. Because she was so talented, Belle landed her own record deal with Columbia Records. Belle’s solo career was filled with success as she won 4 Grammy awards and even began performing songs for Disney movies. One of the reasons why Disney’s animated film Aladdin became a classic is because of her duet with Peabo Bryson, A Whole New World. Despite being so successful, Belle was suddenly dropped from her label and then things got worse.
The Life Threatening Health Issue That Almost Took Belle’s Life
In 2009, while on tour, Regina Belle’s experience horrible headaches and she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. This was devastating for her and caused her to cancel her tours. In 25 years of being a performer, she had never cancel a show.
“I went to emergency surgery, and the surgery was supposed to take a couple of hours. It took eight. I bled so badly they had to close me up and finish it six months later, they had to open my head back up,” she recalled on Unsung.
Thankfully, the tumor was benign, however, she still faced medical challenges. She lost her hearing in her left ear and she experienced dizziness. Belle also endured other common symptoms from the brain tumor, such as vertigo, loss of balance, and incoordination. The vertigo caused her to vomit, but she never stopped pursuing her music.
Since her recovery from the near fatal brain tumor, Regina Belle listened to the voice inside of her.
“When I got ready to go back to work, I could just hear a small voice saying to me, now, when you sing God is good, you will understand how good I really am because you cannot tell by looking at me. You don’t know what I’ve been through,” Regina Belle shared.
With a renewed sense of faith, Belle and her ex-NBA player husband, John S. Battle III, are senior pastors at First Lady of New Shield of Faith Ministries in Atlanta, GA. Despite the fact that Belle was a R&B singer, she has always brought a Gospel element to her performances.
“I don’t think my fans are all that surprised because when I’m in concert, they know Regina can break off into praise at any moment. I’ve been giving God the glory for a long time and I’ve never allowed fans to believe for one moment that I was pulling up my own bootstraps. So I don’t think they’re surprised, but I suppose some might be who aren’t familiar with who I am. [My faith is] my foundation and something I never left, but I can say that through the years, God has beefed up that understanding. All of the stuff that I was going through in my life, he helped me amidst the hardships. He was taking his time to build me into the woman he wanted me to be, opening the doors for me to go into the R&B world. Some church folk might not agree with that [decision to go mainstream], but it’s given me a full-fledged understanding of who God is and given me a greater compassion for people in the world that might be a little different than folks who’ve only lived in church circles their whole life,” Regina Belle shared with Cross Rhythms.
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Through it all, the accomplished R&B legend faced some hurdles that could have totally altered her life and career. However, Belle was able to push past her obstacles, like the true warrior she is, and continues to show up and show OUT on stage today with her undeniable talent.
