Sam Fender has suffered a vocal cord haemorrhage.

The 31-year-old star has been forced to cancel a series of festival performances after being diagnosed with a vocal cord haemorrhage, with Sam admitting that he doesn't want to risk causing "lasting damage to [his] vocal cords".

In a statement posted on Instagram, Sam - who recently performed at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone - said: "Hey everyone, at the beginning of the week I got my voice checked by my ENT Doctor and the cords were slightly swollen. After a few days rest I was advised by my team that I was okay to perform.

"On stage at Silverstone I could feel that things were a lot harder than usual, I felt I needed to push a lot harder to sing, this is never a good sign. I've just been checked by my ENT again today, as I was concerned about it, and it's transpired that I've had a haemorrhage on one of my vocal cords.

"This is incredibly frustrating as I have been so careful with my vocal health and this year so far has been the best of my career. I've been advised to be on vocal restriction and to not sing for the next 14 days.

"If I were to play at these next shows I would risk causing lasting damage to my vocal cords. This means I cannot perform at the upcoming Rock Werchter, Down The Rabbit Hole, NOS Alive, and Montreux Jazz Festivals. (sic)"

Sam apologised to his fans for the situation, admitting that he hates "letting people down".

The Play God hitmaker - who recently performed a series of shows at St James' Park in Newcastle - continued: "I'm so sorry to everybody who is coming to those festivals with our show in mind. Our fans are the most important thing to us, I hate letting people down and I hate not being able to sing for weeks as it is my only real passion in life.

"I hope that I'm able to make it up to you down the line, but until then I'm gonna work to get this voice fixed. Love from me and the band."