The ex-Deep Purple and Black Sabbath frontman, Glenn Hughes, has played his last show. The 74-year-old singer has announced that he’s retiring from live performance on medical advice.
It comes just days after he played with the all-star covers band Kings Of Chaos in California. Hughes was joined on stage by Richie Sambora, Steve Stevens, Kevin Cronin, Matt Sorum and Jack Blades. So, not a bad way to go out.
"This past year, I’ve had some health issues," Hughes posted on social media. "The results from numerous MRIs, CT scans, and an echocardiogram have alerted my medical team that I need another open-heart surgery. I really have no option and no choice, as health is my number one priority. Grateful to have been chosen with a life full with the gift of music. Thank you for walking beside me."
GLENN HUGHES ANNOUNCEMENTLIVE SHOWS CANCELLEDRock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Glenn Hughes @glenn_hughes announces his retirement from touring and live performances.Upon his Doctor’s advice, Glenn will have to undergo heart surgery and has made the difficult decision to… pic.twitter.com/VXts2uV95OAugust 4, 2026
The vocalist has had a number of health issues down the years. He was diagnosed with a heart murmur as a child and has said in the past he was surprised not to have more heart problems given his penchant for drink and drugs in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2013 he underwent surgery for an enlarged aorta.
In a 2016 interview with Classic Rock he opened up about how close he had come to death. "I had a heart attack on Christmas Day in 1991. God obviously had a sense of humour: 'Let’s see if he’s paying attention – kapow!' He gave me the heart attack. Or something did – well, that would have been the drugs, wouldn’t it?”
"I realised how close to death I was then. I knew I had to get in a car, and my girlfriend drove me to hospital. And I very distinctly said to them at the hospital: 'I’ve OD’d.' And then I blacked out.”
Fortunately, he’s still with us.
Hughes’s retirement announcement has been a long time coming. Back in January, he cancelled plans for a six-week American tour. Before then, last summer, in an interview with Eddie Trunk, he said “The word retirement is something I don’t normally say.”
But, he added, “In June, I went on a tour of Europe with Black Country Communion and Joe [Bonamassa] and I were talking after two shows in that we were thinking before we started that tour that maybe this would be the end of BCC. Maybe we’ve done and we’ve done and dusted what we started out to do.”
Whether Black Country Communion will continue remains to be seen, but for Hughes it’s clearly the end of the road.
