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10 Musicians Who Have Retired and Stayed Retired
. Though it isn't marked by a specific holiday, today is the anniversary of the day that the Social Security Act was enacted, 78 years ago in 1935. That means babies born on the day the bill was signed into law are currently reaping the rewards of the system they paid into for years. For many, this is their only remaining source of income, and it's a lifesaver. . In honor of those retirees, I thought I'd take a look at some of the musicians who have taken their retirement from the music business over the years -- even though I don't think many of them probably needed Social Security checks, given their success by the time they retired. For the sake of brevity, I'll ignore the fake-out retirements I've discussed in the past and focus just on those who left the biz permanently. . Robert Fripp . Bill Bruford . Phil Collins . Captain Beefheart . Syd Barrett . Grace Slick . John Deacon . Billy Joel . He still tours regularly though, preferring to pull from his deep back catalog than to write anything new. He has, however, released on classical album in 2001, though that's surely not what his fans are looking for. . Bill Withers . Linda Ronstadt You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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How about Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac? Or is he still playing? | |
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I need another Phil Collins album. | |
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Billy Joel is pretty much the only one that went out on top, not necessarily creating his best work, River of Dreams was not that good of an album at all, BUT he was selling alot of albums still, none on this list were, its not often easy to just say goodbye when you are topping charts still as Billy was. But his walking away was more artistic, he didnt have that "album" in him anymore, he probably had the best run of not only classic albums but huge selling albums from The Stranger all the way through An Innocent Man, these albums were flawless, and even The Bridge and StormFront were not just big sellers had some stellar material. To me Billy was still a major star to just retire. though he tours he has been saying that touring may be a done deal too. "We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F | |
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A few on this list like Syd Barrett were never really "on top" though. Pink Floyd became popular after he left. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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He last toured around 2010, but can't find any current information about him. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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MickyDolenz said:
He last toured around 2010, but can't find any current information about him. So he more or less went the Sly Stone route. | |
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It seems he's not going to remain retired after all. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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"Retired and stayed retired" doesn't really mean that much when the retirement wasn't that long ago, like Robert Fripp in 2012.
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Captain Beefheart's was the only one where when he retired, he stayed retired and wasn't health related. Phil's and Linda's was health related (well Phil also has young children). | |
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Billy Joel's hitting the road again this year too, I hear.
Bruford didn't retire for health reasons exactly - he did note that he's not as quick & precise as he used to be but he's probably still able to do it, just decided to get off the treadmill. I'm not sure what happenned to Bill Withers, he went into home repair, but I assume was healthy when he did so.
I'm not surprised most folks can't stay away. Playing music is fun. I can see needing to get away from the professional organization, how if that got bad it could put you off music completely. But sooner or later, unless your health is in trouble, you're probably going to want to give it another try. Especially if you have an audience waiting to see you & willing to pay!
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Maybe the real issue is that most of these "retirements" are actually semi-retirements (EXAMPLE: Tina Turner). | |
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Yeah. Billy Joel's a semi-retirement. Like for instance, he does classical music, but every now and then if he feels like it or if he's caught the money bug, he will return on the road to do the classic stuff. | |
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Before I clicked on this, I tried to think of musicians who would make this list. | |
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Burned a million dollars, deleted their catalog, went insane on the MTV VMAS, and delivered a dead sheep to a hotel to announce their retirement | |
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looks like Robert Fripp maybe coming out of retitement She Believed in Fairytales and Princes, He Believed the voices coming from his stereo
If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me? | |
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