Veteran rocker Glenn Hughes is packing it in at age 74, deciding to put his health first and rock ‘n’ roll a distant second.
Hughes, a singer who’s fronted some of the biggest classic rock bands in music history, shared the news in a social media post.
A Difficult Decision
Hughes, 74, handled lead vocals for such iconic rock bands as Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, had previously cancelled his 2026 spring tour due to what he described at the time as a “minor health issue.”
Sadly, what appeared at the time to be no big deal wound up becoming something far more serious.
A few months later, Hughes announced he was retiring from touring entirely, saying goodbye to the life he’d known for decades.
“The results from numerous MRIs, CT scans, and an echocardiogram have alerted my medical team that I need another open-heart surgery,” he wrote in an Instagram post.
“I really have no option and no choice as health is my number one priority,” he added. “Grateful to have been chosen with a life full with the gift of music… Thank you for walking beside me.”
A Storied Career in Rock
Hughes began his music career as lead singer and bass player for British funk-rock band Trapeze, from 1970 until 1972.
In 1973, Hughes was recruited to replace Roger Glover as bassist for Deep Purple. Due to his gifts as a singer, he wound up sharing lead vocals with newly installed frontman David Coverdale until Deep Purple broke up in 1976.
After some career ups and downs, he collaborated with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, and briefly became the band’s lead vocalist in the mid-1980s.
Rock Royalty
From 2013 to 2015, he fronted California Breed, and then became lead singer for The Dead Daisies, from 2019 until 2023.
In 2016, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the other members of Deep Purple.
More recently, Hughes has fronted rock supergroup Black Country Communion, whose members include guitarist Joe Bonnamasa and drummer Jason Bonham.
Interviewed by Louder in 2025, Hughes recalled how he wound up being tapped for Deep Purple.
“They’d been watching me for a year – they’d seen me with Trapeze at the Marquee in London, at the Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles, all these places. I was in Baltimore, Maryland with Trapeze the same week Purple were in New York where they were playing a show. [Deep Purple’s] Jon Lord flew me in, so I had a feeling something was going to happen,” he said.
The Influence of Bowie
During that interview, he also remembered his friendship with David Bowie, and how he influenced his solo debut.
“David was living at my house in L.A. in March 1975 — he was in his Thin White Duke era. We were jamming, writing stuff, just the two of us … We talked about doing an album together,” he recalled
“David was in his whole soul/ R&B thing back then, which was my world completely. He’d recorded ‘Young Americans,’ which was fantastic, so I decided I was going to make an album in that R&B mold. I started writing [Hughes’s 1977 debut solo album] ‘Play Me Out’ with him in mind to do it with me. Unfortunately he wasn’t available to produce it.”
