Singer Sam Smith has told his fans he needs surgery on his vocal cords.

The star, 22, pulled out of the rest of his Australian tour last week, after doctors discovered a haemorrhage on them and he flew to the US to see a specialist.

In a post on Twitter, he said: “I am very upset to announce I have been battling to get my vocal cords better the last 10 days but unfortunately they haven’t recovered and I’m going to need surgery.”

Smith said he was “gutted” to be missing planned shows but that doctors had told him he would be back performing in six to eight weeks.

The singer has had a meteoric rise in the last few years. Sales figures released this week show he had the bestselling album, single and most streamed track by a British artist in the US in 2014 when Stay With Me was played more than 147 million times.

In a separate post on Instagram, he said: “Bad news. I have my operation booked for next week, so getting really nervous. But by doing this in eight weeks’ time I’m gonna be able to sing like never before so it’s worth it. I am so sorry to all. Dreading the next month thou, I can’t speak for three weeks after the op”.