Glenn Hughes has retired from touring and live performance, announcing that scans over the past year have shown he requires another open-heart operation.
The Deep Purple bassist and vocalist, who turns 75 later this month, said the decision came on medical advice and that he had little choice in the matter.
“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 said. “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.”
The retirement applies to touring and live shows for the foreseeable future. No surgery date has been made public.
Hughes called off his entire 2026 touring schedule at the start of the year, describing the cause at the time as a minor health issue requiring attention over the following months.
That cancellation took down “The Chosen Years“, a 25-city American run booked to open March 27 at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, California and finish May 10 at The Marquee in Tempe, Arizona. The show had been built as a two-hour survey of his career, drawing on Trapeze, Deep Purple, Hughes/Thrall, Iommi/Hughes and Black Country Communion.
“I’m taking advice from my medical team, who I am working closely with. Hoping to see you on the road of happy destiny,” he said in January.
He continued to take selected one-off engagements through the spring and summer, including the inaugural Palm Springs Sound & Vision Awards on March 2, where he sang on tributes to Paul Rodgers and Geezer Butler. He had also been billed to appear alongside Kings Of Chaos in Rancho Mirage, California on August 1, three days before this announcement.
The retirement closes down The Purple Daisies, the collaboration between Hughes and The Dead Daisies members Doug Aldrich, Tommy Clufetos and David Lowy.
The project debuted on May 30, 2026 with a sold-out show at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, Illinois, structured as a split set, ten Dead Daisies songs followed by a run of Deep Purple classics.
A second date had been booked for October 2 at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California. That show is cancelled.
Hughes was born in Cannock, England, and built a style out of British hard rock, The Beatles, and above all American soul, the Motown records out of Detroit and the Stax/Volt catalogue from Memphis.
He first drew attention with Trapeze in the early 1970s before joining Deep Purple in 1973 for the Mk III and Mk IV lineups alongside David Coverdale. He later fronted Black Sabbath on 1986’s Seventh Star, worked with Tony Iommi again as Iommi/Hughes, recorded with Pat Thrall, and spent recent years leading Black Country Communion with Joe Bonamassa, Derek Sherinian and Jason Bonham.
He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of Deep Purple in 2016.
His most recent solo album, Chosen, arrived on September 5, 2025 and ended a nine-year gap in his solo catalogue. It produced the singles “Chosen“, “Voice In My Head” and “Into The Fade“. He toured it through Europe and South America in the second half of that year, opening in Zoetermeer, Netherlands on September 2 and finishing in Bogotá, Colombia on November 29.
