Those golden oldies are getting a bit creaky--just ask Ray Charles, the Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
All three jukebox staples have had to nix tour dates in recent days due to assorted maladies.
Charles, 72, called off the remainder of the concert dates for his 2003 trek due to an acute pain in his hip--the first time the Father of Soul has missed a tour in 53 years.
"It breaks my heart to withdraw from these shows," the iconic entertainer said in a statement.
Charles, whose last gig was in Alexandria, Virginia, on July 20, was hoping to hit the road for 14 scheduled shows in August. But, after seeking medical treatment, he was forced to cancel not only those dates, but also concerts scheduled through December 16.
"All my life, I've been touring and performing. It's what I do," Charles said. "But the doctors insist I stay put and mend for a while, so I'll heed their advice."
With mending on his mind, Charles said he planned to take it easy with a light workload at his Los Angeles-based RPM Studios, where's he's been supervising work on upcoming releases for his Crossover Records labels. He's putting the finishing touches on a long-in-the-works gospel CD and recording a duets album.
The Georgia-born, genre-bending Charles has been a pioneer in soul, R&B, rock and even country in a career stretching all the way back into the '50s.
The singer, blind since the age of seven, has won 13 Grammys, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was also one of the original inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. Charles has also received the prestigious Presidential Medal for the Arts and Kennedy Center Honors, among other accolades.
Mostly touring as an oldies act these days on the strength of such hits as "Georgia On My Mind," "Unchain My Heart," "What'd I Say" and "I Can't Stop Loving You,", Charles recently celebrated another milestone by performing his 10,000th concert, which took place at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles.
A movie based on his life, Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Story, starring Jamie Foxx in the title role, also just wrapped principal photography.
While Charles convalesces, a couple other rock dinosaurs are also briefly off the road. The just-turned-60 Mick Jagger is resting his pipes after a bout of laryngitis forced him and the Rolling Stones to call off Tuesday's show in the Spanish resort town of Alicante. (What a drag it is getting old, Mick.)
The group plans to make up that date, as well as SARS-scuttled dates in China originally scheduled for April, this fall.
Also ailing is Gary Rossington, the de factor leader and guitarist of hard-luck Southern rock fixture Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The 51-year-old Rossington, who underwent successful open-heart surgery in February, suffered a mild seizure and spent several days in an Atlanta hospital being treated for fatigue before being released this week. Doctors have advised him to get some rest, forcing Skynyrd to pull out of the remaining dates on its co-headlining tour with Sammy Hagar, a Skynyrd publicist said Tuesday.
The band is as well known for hits like "Sweet Home Alabama," "Freebird" and "What's Your Name" as it is for enduring tragedy. Singer-songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and vocalist Cassie Gaines died in a 1977 plane crash. Another guitarst, Allen Collins, survived the crash but was left paralyzed, and was later killed in a car crash. Bassist Leon Wilkeson died during the recording of the band's latest album, Vicious Cycle.
Rossington is expected to be ready to resume road warrior duties in time for the band's next scheduled tour, slated to kick off August 23 in Omaha, Nebraska.