Walking out on stage to collect a major national music award this year was a magical moment for Manchester singer Mica Millar. Not just as a celebration of her incredible vocal talent and music - but for Mica to even be up on stage at all after battling back from a life-changing injury.
For two years ago Mica suffered a horrific injury at a trampoline exercise class - breaking her back and fearing that she would never be able to walk, or sing, again. She spent months and months in recovery, having to relearn to walk before she could even think of being able to sing again.
It has all led to a quite incredible 2022 for Mica - who was not only able to release her debut album Heaven Knows, but won the Jazz FM Soul Act of the Year award at a glittering ceremony in October. She will head on a new UK tour in May 2023.
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Looking back now at the accident in January 2020 that could have changed her life forever, Mica, 35, from Levenshulme, admits it was through "utter perseverance" that she has got to where she is today.
She says: "Me and my friend had been going to do a trampolining class, as a recreational activity really, but after about four weeks I had an accident and broke my back. I was learning to do a back drop-to-front drop manoeuvre and I landed very badly where I crushed a vertebrae entirely and damaged my spinal cord.
"I was in a back brace for nine months while I learnt how to walk again - and this was all just as lockdown came into force in March 2020 so it was an intense time.
"I had nine months without work, without any Government support despite being really restricted in what I could do physically.
"Having an accident like that really puts things into perspective. It's amazing really looking back at where I was to where I am now. The only way I can describe that journey is utter perseverance.
"I just thought - I'm not going to let this take me down. I had to be mentally strong.
"It happened when I was in the middle of recording my album, and I'd invested a lot of my own money and time into it. I had to pick myself up and think no it's not going to beat me. I feel very proud of what I've accomplished against the odds."
After seeking legal advice, Mica tried to make a legal claim against the trampoline park she attended where she suffered the injury, but after a two year legal battle was told her solicitors could not prove the trampoline centre had been negligent.
But Mica knows that she has a long-term recovery with the injury. She says: "People ask 'are you recovered?' But that's not how it works with spinal injuries. Anyone who has been through an injury like this will know it's two steps forward one step back and it's still like that now.
"There was a moment in time when it happened and in the hospital there was uncertainty about what the future would look like for me. I remember coming out of surgery and them saying it went well and it felt like this euphoric moment, but then in the aftermath there's a lot you have to go through it's a real journey."
Mica had to draw on her emotional and mental strength and the support of family and friends to battle back to health and her own savings to get by. She had passion and determination to complete her album and return to singing, even though the back injury meant she could not sing for six months.
She says: "With an injury like that and being in a brace, your core muscles deteriorate very quickly, so in order to sing the way I sing, which is a lot of singing in full voice with power and volume, you're not able to project or control your vocals in the way that you want to. It meant I was doing vocal rehab as well as physical rehab as I recovered - you definitely can't sing when you're in a back brace.
"There was a very strong risk of paralysis. They put metalwork in my spine which will be there permanently."
There was also the mental toll of the injuries on Mica. She says: "When you go through something so traumatic, I suffered with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after the accident as well. I had a lot of therapy.
"For anyone who has experienced trauma I cannot recommend therapy more strongly. I was able to access that on the NHS but it was challenging because of Covid.
"But I'd started this album, and it had been a long time coming for me for my career for me, it stopped me in my tracks.
"The challenge was I was going round in circles with the album at that time. But when I had the accident it made me stop and reflect on what I was doing. It made me approach the album in a different way and I think it's helped it become the album that it has become."
Mica grew up in a musical family in Withington, with the support of her "cool dad" Kim Turner who runs a vintage store in Manchester's alternative emporium Afflecks. Mica says: "My dad is a musician, so I always had musicians writing songs in the house. I wrote poetry a lot as a kid and would write songs too."
She began to perform as a solo artist around Manchester in 2017 with smaller gigs at the likes of The Castle and The Deaf Institute. Entirely self-funding and self-promoting her music, she performed her biggest solo show to date at Manchester's Albert Hall in September which she describes as "a really significant moment in my career".
She also performed a string of memorable songs alongside Peter Hook and the Manchester Camerata at the Joy Division Orchestrated gigs in Manchester and London in October.
Mica says: "As an independent artist I'm trying to find a way to maintain my independence and do a lot of the legwork myself. I've been all round South Manchester and North Manchester putting up posters for my show."
Getting back to work on the album became a "real motivator" to her recovery. Influenced by classic soul, jazz, gospel and r 'n' b, it has shone through her music and led to the nomination as Soul Act of the Year at the Jazz FM Awards. To win on the night, at her first every music awards she says was "amazing".
"It was amazing, it's the first awards ceremony I've ever been to and then to win as well. I got to meet Jools Holland which was obviously a highlight. My dad got to come too and he was obviously really proud, I was able to thank him on stage for teaching me how to write songs when I was a kid."
Mica is already working on new music, and has announced new tour dates in May 2023 across the UK including at Manchester's Band on the Wall on May 25 as part of Manchester Jazz Festival. Book tickets and find out more about her music at her website micamillar.co.uk
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