Sudden Deafness Upends R&B Star

Photo: Ground Picture / Shutterstock

Tank went deaf in one ear almost overnight, and what he did next became a lesson in grit most men half his age could learn from.

Quick Take

R&B singer Tank announced in May 2021 he was losing hearing in both ears, with no known cause.
Dizziness and balance trouble hit him alongside the sudden hearing loss, doctors ran tests and MRIs.
He says the health scare triggered a depression and physical decline, stalling his workouts entirely.
A wedding in Hawaii became the spark for a six-to-eight-month comeback built on twice-daily training.

A Sudden, Unexplained Health Crisis Hits Mid-Career

Tank, the 50-year-old R&B veteran born Durrell Babbs, told fans in a May 2021 video that he was “going completely deaf” in his right ear and starting to lose hearing in his left. He said he felt dizzy and couldn’t walk straight, a combination that alarmed doctors and fans alike. He described it as coming “out of nowhere,” with no clear trigger he could point to.

Reporters at the time confirmed Tank was already working with a physician, undergoing testing and taking medication while doctors tried to pin down what was happening inside his ears. Multiple outlets later identified the condition as sudden sensorineural hearing loss tied to tinnitus, a diagnosis medical literature says often arrives with no clear cause and uncertain prognosis.

The Medical Reality Behind a Scary Diagnosis

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss isn’t rare, and its pattern matches what Tank described almost exactly. Research shows roughly one-third to two-thirds of patients see some natural improvement, usually within the first two weeks, but the presence of vertigo at onset typically signals a tougher recovery road. Tank had vertigo from day one, which lines up with a harder, more uncertain path forward rather than a guaranteed bounce-back.

Follow-up reporting shows the picture stayed complicated. Tank said steroid treatment itself became a problem, telling one outlet “the medicine really did me in” and that it made him “eat like crazy,” pushing his body into a shape he says he didn’t recognize. Other interviews describe ongoing vertigo “pretty much every day,” even as he kept working. That mixed trajectory tracks with medical data showing recovery from this condition is often partial, not complete.

How the Setback Turned Into a Physical Collapse

Tank has been candid that the hearing crisis didn’t stay contained to his ears. He told Men’s Health he stopped training altogether, lost the physical shape he’d maintained his whole adult life, and sank into depression. “I didn’t recognize myself,” he said. “I couldn’t hear myself. I was out of shape”. For a performer whose identity is built on stage command, losing both his hearing and his body at once was a gut punch few outsiders could fully grasp.

That kind of compounding collapse — physical, emotional, professional — is exactly what makes comeback stories resonate with readers over 40. Most people don’t get hit by one crisis at a time. They stack up. Tank’s account of watching his health crumble in multiple directions simultaneously is relatable territory for anyone who’s hit a wall in midlife and wondered if they’d ever climb out.

Rebuilding Strength After Losing Everything

The turning point, by Tank’s own account, came at a wedding in Hawaii, where he reconnected with training partner John Gays and decided to get back in the gym. What followed was a grueling six-to-eight-month stretch of two-a-day workouts — cardio, core work, sauna sessions, and weightlifting five days a week. It’s the kind of disciplined, no-shortcuts routine that built his career in the first place, now deployed to rebuild a body and a mind that had both given out on him.

Tank also says the condition reshaped how he makes music, not ended it. Working with mix engineer Jason Joshua, he adapted his process around diminished hearing and came away with an unexpected takeaway: “I almost feel like I hear better,” he said, describing a mental shift as much as a physical one. That kind of adaptation is consistent with broader research on musicians managing hearing loss, where training and familiarity with sound can offset some of what’s lost physically.

A Comeback Built on Discipline, Not Luck

Tank’s story lands as a straightforward example of what older men already know: bodies break down, setbacks arrive without warning, and the only real answer is showing up anyway. He didn’t wait for a miracle cure or a clean diagnosis. He trained through uncertainty, leaned on people who showed up for him, and kept making music despite a condition doctors still can’t fully explain.

For an audience that’s spent decades watching institutions overpromise and underdeliver, there’s something refreshingly old-fashioned about Tank’s approach — work the problem, trust the people in your corner, and don’t let a scary diagnosis write the rest of your story.