Rod Stewart: 'Cancer brought me down to earth'

Rod Stewart has explained that suffering from thyroid cancer in 2000 caused him to re-examine his outlook on life.

During an interview on Piers Morgan Tonight, the English singer, who has scored four US No.1 singles, said that he was forced to face his own mortality when he underwent a dangerous surgical procedure.

"The surgeon told me how delicate the operation was," Stewart disclosed. "[The doctor] said, 'if there had been an earthquake while I was operating on your throat… one little slip and you wouldn't have spoken [ever] again.'"

He continued: "It did bring me down to earth. I kept thinking 'what am I going to do? I can't sing'... I was frightened. Really scared."

After revealing that his cancer surgery left him hospitalised for a short period of time, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee insisted that he doesn't think it's fair to other cancer survivors to over-dramatise his experience.

"I was in and out of the hospital in 24 hours," he remarked. "When people say, 'you battled cancer', [I say] I didn't. I was dead lucky."

Since undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer a decade ago, Stewart was able to resume his singing career with the popular Great American Songbook albums.

Stewart recently described his newborn son Aiden as a "miracle baby".

Piers Morgan Tonight airs weeknights at 9pm ET on CNN and at 8pm GMT on CNN International.

> Rod Stewart 'hasn't slept for two weeks'

Watch more of Rod Stewart's interview with Piers Morgan below: