(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Adele has been forced to cancel her upcoming 10-city U.S. tour.

The British singer was preparing to start her trip around North America on Friday in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

But she has fallen ill and her representatives announced yesterday that she has a hemorrhage in her vocal cord.

The 23-year-old Rolling In The Deep star also released a lengthy statement on her condition saying she was disappointed but had no choice in the matter.

"Singing is literally my life, it's my hobby, my love, my freedom and now my job," she wrote on her website. "I have absolutely no choice but to recuperate properly and fully, or I risk damaging my voice forever."

"I have great confidence in believing you know how much this upsets me, how seriously I take it and how truly devastated and annoyed I am by this.

"My voice is weak and I need to build it back up. I'm gonna be starting up vocal rehab as soon as, and start building my overall stamina in my voice, body and mind.

"I will be back and I'm gonna smash the ball out the park once I start touring again. I apologise from the bottom of my heart, sincerely I do.

"I know it's not only disappointing because of the show, but its plane tickets, hotel bookings, birthdays, anniversaries and time wasted."

Earlier this year Adele had to scrap her North American tour once before because she came down with laryngitis and had to postpone several UK dates due to a chest infection but she had just completed the UK tour. (C) Cover Media