Sir Rod Stewart has been one of the most famous faces in music for decades now and with his recent health scare, The Mirror has looked back at all the other times he rest
Sir Rod Stewart has been one of the most famous faces in music for decades now, playing Glastonbury last year.
With a career spanning across 32 albums and with 120 million record sales to his name, he is one of the most successful artists of all time. The 81-year-old rock star is still going strong, but recently had to stop a concert mid-show in the US as a team of backstage assistants ushered him to the side of the stage where he was seen taking several puffs on an oxygen tank. At the time, he told the audience: “I was trying to dance and nearly f*****g fainted,” and completed the rest of the gig sitting in a chair.
Whilst he is known for making sure the show does go on, this is not the first time that Rod has endured a health problem. Here, The Mirror takes a look back at his health woes over the years.
Cancer shock
In 2019, Rod he revealed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer three years prior. He was given the all-clear and then teamed up with the Prostate Project charity to raise awareness. At the time, he explained to USA Today: “Two years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“I’m in the clear now, simply because I caught it early. I’ve worked for two years and I’ve just been happy, and the good Lord looked after me..”
“Guys, you’ve got to really go to the doctor… Finger up the bum, no harm done. As anyone who has been through this experience knows, when you are so close to something that is potentially life-threatening, you tend to get your life in perspective.” He also admitted in his autobiography that he had felt “fearful and vulnerable” like never before during that time.
Voice loss
In 2000, Rod was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent an operation, which he described as being an “in and out” procedure, to have the tumour removed. Whilst he made a full recovery, it left a lasting impact on his voice. During an appearance on Loose Women, he said: “It was really easy to get rid of, but I did lose my voice totally gone.
“I’m not like I was in the ’70s and ’80s and I can’t stay up all night, get drunk and go mad and still have a voice just like that. Nowadays I have to protect my voice before and after every show. “
Broken nose
In his late teens, Rod was focused on becoming a footballer, but suffered a broken nose during a match. He has declined surgery for fear of what it might do to his voice, explaining: “Recently, a doctor said, ‘If we straighten this out and we give you a nice straight nose, you may … lose your voice. [So I said] ‘Leave that alone, mate. I’ll do with a bent nose.'”
Laryngitis
Doctors recently diagnosed the Maggie May singer with an acute upper respiratory infection, which later resulted in laryngitis, meaning he was unable to sing. But the very next day, he was spotted in the stands at Boston Stadium watching Scotland secure a victory against Haiti in the World Cup 2026. Reflecting on the incident, he said: “No, I got an awful… I really shouldn’t have gone to the Haiti game. You know, I had to cancel a show the night before because I just had no voice left.”
Gig cancellations
Rod recently had to cancel two of his Las Vegas shows owing to a sinus infection, and later admitted that he should have sought medical advice sooner. He said: “I’ve got this awful sinus infection, I should have gone to hospital but I didn’t. It got infected. My ears, and my eardrums. I couldn’t hear a thing a couple of days ago. I’m nearly there but when you’ve had your ears blocked up, it ruins your equilibrium, so I might stumble a bit tonight!
Oxygen tank
Just last week, Rod was performing in Utah and worried fans when he had to rush off stage in need of oxygen. Explaining more about the incident, his wife Penny said: “He’d been suffering from an upper respiratory infection. Then he had a show in Salt Lake City and, similar to Denver, it’s 5,000 feet above sea level. Your lung capacity, when you’ve got an upper respiratory infection, is down anyway and at that sort of altitude it’s down another 17 per cent.
“But he wasn’t aware of that. He would have prepared differently for the show. “He went out and, of course, he runs around for two hours, and they do recommend that anyone visiting doesn’t exert themselves.”
‘I know my days are numbered…’
In 2024, Rod insisted that he had “no fear” when it comes to his own mortality but predicted at the time that he had another decade left. He told The Sun: “I’m aware my days are numbered but I’ve got no fear. I am going to be enjoying myself for these last few years as much as I can. I say few – probably another 15. I can do that easy mate, easy.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
