Glenn Hughes has announced his retirement from live performances, and revealed that he requires open-heart surgery.
The former Deep Purple, Trapeze, Black Sabbath, Black Country Communion and Dead Daisies singer and bassist announced his “retirement from touring and live performances” on social media Tuesday afternoon.
Hughes had been scheduled to play with the Purple Daisies on Oct. 2 in Agoura Hills, California but that show has been canceled.
“This past year, I’ve had some health issues. The results from numerous MRIs, CT scans, and an echocardiogram have alerted my medical team, that I need another open-heart surgery,” Hughes explained.
“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.”
After recording three albums with the innovative hard rock band Trapeze, Hughes joined Deep Purple in 1973, serving as a member of their mark III and IV lineups, and appearing on the albums Burn, Stormbringer and Come Taste the Band.
In addition to releasing over a dozen solo albums, Hughes also appeared on Black Sabbath’s 1986 album Seventh Star, on all five albums by the Black Country Communion supergroup and most recently, two from the Dead Daisies.
In January Hughes canceled plans for a six-week U.S. spring tour, citing “a minor health issue that requires [my] attention over the upcoming months.”
In August of 2025, Hughes told Eddie Trunk that retirement wasn’t on his radar. “The word retirement is something I don’t normally say. In June, I went on a tour of Europe with Black Country Communion, and Joe 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,” he explained.
“And funny enough, we felt on that tour of Europe that we were actually just getting started. You know, we made a live album, by the way, it’ll be coming out early next year. I think sometime early, early this year, I thought, you know, maybe I should slow it down. Maybe I should take it easy, you know, blah, blah, blah. But ever since I came home from the BCC tour, I’m reinvigorated. I’ve got new purpose. I’ve never felt so strong, and I’m really looking forward to doing more shows, both solo and with Black Country Communion.”
Hughes most recently performed live on Saturday night in Rancho Mirage, California, leading the Kings of Chaos supergroup through four Deep Purple classics including “Stormbringer.” You can watch that video below.
Watch Glenn Hughes Perform ‘Stormbringer’ With Kings of Chaos
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Gallery Credit: UCR Staff
