Country Star Who Can’t Sing After Stroke Releases New Song Using AI
Over a decade after suffering a debilitating and near-fatal stroke, country music star Randy Travis has released a new song that features an AI-generated recreation of his own voice. It’s a fascinating use of the technology. Instead of cloning another artist’s voice without their consent or an estate resurrecting a passed performer’s vocals, Travis and his wife Mary used the tech to breathe new life into the singer’s extensive and decades-long country music career. The track, called “Where That Came From,” features Travis’ iconic voice, which was generated by two separate AI models. These models were trained on vocal stems plucked from the singer’s lengthy discography, dating back to 1985. The results speak for themselves: it’s practically impossible to tell if it was generated by an AI. “All I ever wanted since the day of a stroke was to hear that voice again,” Mary Travis told The Associated Press. Travis suffered a stroke, the result of a virus that attacked his heart, in July 2013. He had to spend years relearning how to walk, …
