From The Rolling Stones to The Wynners: Music stars in their 70s and 80s still in the spotlight

SINGAPORE – Rock and pop music used to be the domain of the young, but veteran musicians are proving that age is just a number. 

Some of the biggest stars of the 1960s, such as The Rolling Stones, are in their 70s and 80s – and they are still rocking stages around the world and making new music.

While some veterans such as Bruce Springsteen, 74, and Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler, 75, have had to cancel or postpone shows for health reasons, others like Bob Dylan, 82, have tours that run until 2024.

Here are some stars with unusually lengthy music careers that have outlasted those of their peers and, in many cases, their juniors too.

1. The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger, 80, Keith Richards, 79, and Ronnie Wood, 76

A prominent rock album released last week was by one of the music industry’s most senior bands.

On Friday, British band The Rolling Stones

released the highly anticipated Hackney Diamonds,

their 26th album in a career that dates back to 1962.

Now down to a trio – singer Mick Jagger and guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood – the album is the band’s first new LP since drummer Charlie Watts died in 2021.

Over the last seven decades, they have survived multiple tragedies, such as the deaths of other band members, including troubled former leader Brian Jones, who died of drowning in 1969.

Not content with just being creatively productive in the studio, the band still have enough fire in their bellies to rock stages around the world. In 2022, they went on a 14-date European tour that featured shows in massive arenas, drawing a total of 712,000 fans and racking up US$121 million (S$166 million) at the box office.

2. Paul McCartney, 81, and Ringo Starr, 83

Singer, songwriter and bassist Paul McCartney and drummer Ringo Starr are the surviving members of The Beatles, widely regarded as the most important band to emerge from the 1960s due to their lasting impact on popular culture.

And while the British band broke up in 1970, there is currently a big buzz around them again as McCartney announced in June that a new Beatles song will be released by the end of 2023.

He told the BBC that artificial intelligence was used to “extricate” from old demos the voice of singer and composer John Lennon.

Before he died in 1980, Lennon recorded several demo songs on a cassette labelled “For Paul”. Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono gave it to McCartney in 1994.

Two of the songs, Free As A Bird and Real Love, were then released as Beatles songs in 1995 and 1996.

Another Beatles member, singer, songwriter and guitarist George Harrison, died in 2001.

The upcoming song, believed to be titled Now And Then, will be The Beatles’ final record, says McCartney.

Both Starr and McCartney are still performing as solo artistes. McCartney’s current world tour kicked off in April 2022 and is set to end in December.

Starr released a new EP, Rewind Forward, on Oct 13 and did a tour around the United States in September and October.

3. Bob Dylan, 82

Rock’s poet laureate and Nobel Prize in Literature recipient Bob Dylan is showing no signs of slowing down.

The American icon is in the midst of his Rough And Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour, which kicked off in 2021 and is expected to carry on until 2024.

The tour has taken him across North America, as well as to Europe and Japan, and was launched off the back of his 39th album, Rough And Rowdy Ways, released in 2020.

Dylan, who made his debut in 1959 and is regarded as one of the finest songwriters ever, is expected to pick up a new generation of fans when a biopic based on his life, titled A Complete Unknown, is released.

While no release dates have been set, the film will star Timothee Chalamet as Dylan and be directed by James Mangold, who also helmed Walk The Line, the acclaimed 2005 biopic on late country icon Johnny Cash.

4. The Who: Pete Townshend, 78, and Roger Daltrey, 79

British band The Who famously sang “I hope I die before I get old” in their 1965 hit My Generation.

It is not a line that the group’s surviving members, guitarist Pete Townshend and singer Roger Daltrey, are taking to heart. Bass player John Entwistle died in 2002, while firecracker drummer Keith Moon died in 1978.

Townshend and Daltry, backed by session musicians, just wrapped up a series of concerts that saw them perform all over Britain, as well as in the US and Europe in 2023. In 2019, they released their 12th album, simply titled Who.

In a recent interview with guitar outlet Guitar.com, Townshend said he was feeling better than ever when it came to playing music.

He said: “I feel comfortable doing what I’m doing with the band. The interesting thing about our business now is, like the Stones and McCartney, we’re pushing the age envelope as far as it can possibly go.”

5. Smokey Robinson, 83

Smokey Robinson is an American R&B and soul legend who kicked off his music career in 1955.

He is still doing regular shows, and is in the midst of a tour that travels to several US cities and will run until April. In mid-October, he performed live on famed online music series Tiny Desk, organised by American media organisation NPR.

Still looking youthful in his 80s, the man raised a few eyebrows earlier in 2023 when he announced his new record, a concept album about sex that he titled Gasms.

He told British news outlet The Guardian in an interview published in April: “I still feel sexual. And I hope I’ll always feel like that. Okay, chronologically, I’m 83, but it’s not really my age.”

6. The Wynners: Alan Tam, 73, Kenny Bee, 70, Bennett Pang, 74, Danny Yip, 73, and Anthony Chan, 71

Hong Kong pop band The Wynners’ 50th anniversary concert tour will be their last hurrah before they disband for good. The jaunt includes a concert in Singapore at the Sands Grand Ballroom on Dec 17.

Formed in 1973, the quintet are known for English tunes like L-O-V-E Love (1974), as well as Cantonese classics such as Unchanged For A Thousand Years (1988).

Their upcoming gig here will boast nearly 50 songs from their catalogue, from early tunes like Let’s Rock (1975) to new songs such as Five Black-haired Teenagers (2023).

The secret to their longevity, the band said at a recent press conference in Singapore, is their firm friendship.

Tam said: “Many bands, especially the younger ones, can be very fiery and opinionated. But we are easy-going and respectful of one another.”

7. Sweet Charity: Ramli Sarip, 70, Rahman Sarbani, 70, Rosli Mohalim, 69, and Ahmad Jaffar, 69

On Oct 14, one of Singapore’s oldest rock bands proved they still had the spirit and stamina to stage a three-hour concert at The Star Theatre.

Two of the members who founded the group in 1969 are still in the band – frontman Ramli Sarip and drummer Rahman Sarbani.

With their lively shows and songs that became evergreen hits on Malay radio, the pioneering group inspired many rock bands in Singapore and Malaysia that came up in the 1980s.

In July, the band emerged from a decade-long hiatus to stage a concert in Johor Bahru. They are also planning to stage shows in other parts of Malaysia in 2024.

As Ramli explained in a recent interview with The Straits Times: “I’m not looking forward to retirement. As long as you are healthy and able to work, you do what you have to do. It’s a philosophy I got from my late dad.”

8. Dionne Warwick, 82

After 68 years in show business, American soul and R&B icon Dionne Warwick is still playing shows across the US. And earlier in 2023, she released a new song, Peace Like A River, a duet with another music veteran, Dolly Parton, 77.

More significantly, she is still making an impact on pop culture, mostly through her strong social media presence. Dubbed “Queen of Twitter”, her no-holds-barred takes on issues of the day have often made headlines.

She recently made public her displeasure at billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform which he rebranded as X.

“I have yet to speak to that young man,” she told US publication People. “And I intend to because I am not quite sure what he’s doing or if he knows what he’s doing.”