Pete Yorn Reveals Why He Was ‘Forced’ Into Getting Sober in 2023 (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Pete Yorn reveals to PEOPLE what led to his sobriety

• “It’s a lot easier to stay thin now, so that’s cool,” said the New Jersey-born singer-songwriter

• Yorn played his first show sober at the McKittrick Hotel in N.Y.C. in 2024

Pete Yorn is opening up about why he decided to get sober.

For the New Jersey-born singer-songwriter, it was a health crisis that led him to make that decision.

“I was forced into [being sober] because I had to get this ridiculous surgery in 2023,” Yorn, 51, tells PEOPLE. “I was two weeks into my healing, and I’m not drinking because I want to just heal, and I was like, ‘Maybe this is my shot to just cut it out. It’s a good break here.'”

So, the “Life on a Chain” musician decided to stop drinking. “I haven’t drank since March of 2023, and it’s so great,” says Yorn.

He also noted there are some unexpected perks.

“It’s a lot easier to stay thin now, so that’s cool. Less bloated,” jokes Yorn.

It wouldn’t be until 2024 that he would perform for the first time sober at a concert at the McKittrick Hotel in N.Y.C.

According to Yorn, he was “so nervous” at the time that he had to tell the crowd.

“I was still flooding,” he recalls, of the show. “It was too much adrenaline.”

Being transparent about his sobriety with the audience was a way to keep him calm.

“I talk about [my sobriety] more for me to put it out there and have an excuse to run off-stage if I did get too nervous,” says Yorn.

He continues, “Playing music as a kid, when I first started up, it was always around drinking, smoking, and it was just fun. At some point, I really needed it too much to get on stage.”

Following his first show sober, Yorn definitely faced some anxiety for a while.

“I’d be white-knuckling,” he says. “Now I’m finally able to enjoy the shows again. I’ve got enough under my belt [that] I’ve rebalanced my nervous system where I could handle it.”

Yorn will embark on the 25th anniversary tour for musicforthemorningafter later this month.

musicforthemorningafter was released via Columbia Records in 2001 and cracked the Billboard Top 100 albums chart at the time.

“I remember thinking, ‘I want to make music that I’ll be proud of in 10 years. I’m not going to compromise. I’m just going to do what I love and see what happens,'” he recently told PEOPLE.

The digital deluxe edition of musicforthemorningafter is out now.

Read the original article on People