Glass Tiger's Alan Frew making a comeback after a stroke

Staging a musical comeback is always hard work, but for Alan Frew,it feelslike a matter of life and death.

The singer of popular1980sCanadian band Glass Tigersuffered a stroke in August 2015,mere hours after finishing work on his latest album.

"People have asked me during the stroke, atthat moment the big moment what was going through my mind. Was I afraid and what not. I thought about my family," Frewtold CBC News.

"Then, I thought about my album. I just finished this album:this can't be happening. Because it's just who I am, it's what I do. I've been doing it for so long that if I can't do that and I can't walk and talk properly, sing again I don't know what I would do,"he revealed recently during an interview athis Toronto home, which he shares with his wife Marcy and their son and daughter.

Dark days

Frewsaidhe ignored thefirst signs that something was wrong. He was tired, but excited after finishing the final session for his album.

"I went to bed that night, and I woke up the next morning and I didn't feel right: something was going on with my leg my arm and my hand, I tried to shake it off.I went golfing."

• Glass Tiger's Alan Frew has stroke but vows to sing again

But after feeling unwell on the golf course, heasked hisson to drive him to the hospital. After that, everything was a blur.The next few days, Frew said, were among the darkest of his life.

"I cried for three days straight. It wasn't until the third day when all of a sudden,my toes and my fingers started to move a little bit, and then you startto see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Fighting to perform

Beyond working with rehabilitation therapists to regain movement on the right side of his body, Frewpaidextra attention to his facial muscles and voiceso he would be able to sing again. More importantly, he wanted tosing in the way his fans expect him to.

"I'm a big singer, I've got a big voice," saidFrew, whose rich, booming vocals defined Glass Tiger hits like Someday.

Looking at Frew today, there are few physical signs of his ordeal. The effects of paralysis are not noticeableand he looks lean and fit, the result of daily swimming and biking.

'If I go for that big note, am Igonnahave another one? You can't shake that.'- Alan Frew, singer

"I still have the residual effect in my hand and my arm, and a little bit in my leg," he said.

But while rehabilitation has helped strengthenhis body, Frew saidthe stroke profoundly changed him as a person.

"That guy, pre-stroke, is gone. You can never be that guy again, ever," he said, referencinganxiety that's now part of his everyday life.

"If I go for that big note, am I gonna have another one? You can't shake that."

Back onstage

Still, Frew is confident that anxiety will dissipate once he steps out onstage in front of his fans.

His new album is a compilation of the biggest hits of the decade that made him famous. It's Frew's unique take on songs such as Hold Me Now byThompson Twins, Don't You Forget About Me bySimple Minds, and Nothing Compares 2 You, the Sinead O'Connor hit written by Prince.

"I'm encouraging everybody to come out and enjoy the '80s," Frew said of his comeback shows, including Toronto's Great Hall on Fridayand Saturday.

"It's fun. It'sgreat.I'm gonna belt them out from the top of my lungs and you guys are gonna sing along with me."

The man whose breakout hit was Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone isn't ready to be forgotten anytime soon.