Paul Rodgers will miss out on a reunion with his Bad Company bandmate Simon Kirke because he needs to “prioritize his health”.
The two surviving members of the group had been due to perform together for the first time in six years at the upcoming Rock Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on November 8, but Rodgers has now confirmed he won’t be taking part due to health issues.
In a post on Instagram, he wrote: “My hope was to be at the Rock Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony and to perform for the fans, but at this time I have to prioritize my health.
“I have no problem singing, it’s the stress of everything else. Thanks for understanding. Simon along with some outstanding musicians will be stepping in for me – guaranteed to rock.”
Bad Company – made up of frontman Rodgers, drummer Kirke, late guitarist Mick Ralphs and late bassist Boz Burrell – is among the acts being saluted at the annual ceremony.
Ralphs died in June at the age of 81 while Burrell passed away in 2006. The band’s former vocalist Brian Howe died in 2020 at the age of 66.
Rodgers and Kirke last performed together in 2019 but they retired the band in 2023 after the singer suffered a series of strokes.
In 2023, Rodgers admitted he’d been left struggling to speak, telling CBS Mornings: “I couldn’t do anything, to be honest. I couldn’t speak.
“That was the very strange thing. You know, I’d prepare something in my mind and I’d say it, but that isn’t what came out and I’d go: ‘What the heck did I just say?'”
The singer underwent surgery after his second major stroke in 2019 and subsequently made a recovery which allowed him to return to music and release his 2023 album Midnight Rose.
Rodgers previously admitted he didn’t think he would survive the operation, telling CBS: “They told me, they’re very clear: ‘You may not come out of this alive.’ And I said; ‘Oh, well, that’s a plus, isn’t it?’
“And when I woke up, I opened my eyes, I thought: ‘Oh, I’m still here.’ …[As I recovered] each thing that I did was an achievement … ‘Oh, I can do this. I can sing’.”