At the end of July 2025, Michael Kiwanuka was back home in Southampton after a series of European gigs. His 2024 album Small Changes had been critically acclaimed and was kept off the UK No 1 slot only by Kendrick Lamar’s GNX. His fifth record, Fudge, was due that autumn.
All was going perfectly for the virtuoso singer-songwriter, whose eccentric, genre-busting mix of psychedelic rock, prog soul, blues and gospel had marked him as a real one-off. Kiwanuka had been expected to appear at the All Together Now festival in County Waterford, Ireland, in the coming days, when an announcement was posted to his Instagram story: “We are so sorry to announce that due to continued illness, and on the advice of doctors, Michael will sadly be unable to perform at the rest of his scheduled festival performances throughout the rest of the summer and the shows in North America in October.” Until now, fans have heard nothing from – or about – Kiwanuka. Fudge wasn’t released and his social media channels fell silent.
This week, Kiwanuka revealed the devastating reason: at just 38, he’d had a haemorrhagic stroke. His brief post updating fans on his health drew messages of support from the likes of Alicia Keys, Cat Power, Olivia Dean and Alabama Shakes. His team tells the Guardian that he underwent emergency surgery and was then in intensive care for months to support his breathing.
Kiwanuka has no memory of this. Once he was well enough to breathe on his own, he left the ICU and spent five further months in hospital before moving into a rehabilitation centre in Hampshire. In that time, he has not once been able to return home, and the trajectory of his rehabilitation remains uncertain.
Kiwanuka is now releasing Fudge in October, and wanted to do one interview about the album. I speak to Kiwanuka over the course of two 30-minute calls from his accommodation at the rehabilitation centre. The calls are off-camera, and he is accompanied by his wife, the Christian singer and worship leader Charlotte Kiwanuka.
He has been determined to speak, though he is still in recovery. His speech is slow and fragmented; the traumatic details of his stroke are clearly off limits. Kiwanuka is famed for his introspection yet also fiercely protective of his privacy.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
