Six years ago, Connie Fisher became a household name after winning Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's TV talent competition, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?
In the S4C documentary Gwreiddiau: Connie on Sunday, 15 April the singer retraces her family roots in Northern Ireland and also talks candidly about the triumphs and difficult challenges she's faced since her remarkable rise to fame.
She also reveals the impact North Pembrokeshire and the Welsh language had on her as a youngster; the hectic and demanding schedule as a leading lady in one of the most popular West End musicals, The Sound of Music, and her hopes for the future.
Connie's career almost came to an end following her first stint as Maria in the West End when health problems forced her to take a break from the show. After meeting the world's leading vocal specialist in Boston, USA, Connie learned she was suffering from a hereditary condition called Sulcus Vocalis.
"The specialist told me I would never sing again," recalls an emotional Connie. "It was a devastating and shocking blow and this was the worst period of my life. I felt that this was the end of my career as I knew it. I instantly felt that I had let people down because I had lost my voice and lost a part of me - and I still feel that."
But in a twist of fate, the specialist - who has also helped the likes of Julie Andrews, Adele and Steven Tyler with their vocal problems - offered a ray of hope with an experimental treatment on the vocal chord.
"I had to learn how to sing again - to learn something that has always come so naturally to me was difficult and frustrating. It broke my heart and I thought that this was the end."
Now she's looking forward to her next project - touring the country with the musical, Wonderful Town, by Leonard Bernstein.
Gwreiddiau: Connie will also follow her on an emotional journey back to the town where she was born - Lisburn, Northern Ireland - and to her former family home.
There she'll recall memories of her upbringing in the Army barracks during a hostile period in Northern Ireland's history and the tragic loss of her twin brother, Justin Michael Fisher, as a baby.
