Francis Rossi, 76, shares candid health update as Status Quo frontman asks ‘will I last much longer?’
Status Quo legend Francis Rossi shared a sad admission about his health and getting older as he reflected on being 76.
The musician has been performing actively as part of the rock band for more than six decades.
In a new interview, the singer and guitarist reflected on his life and also opened up on the loss of his band mate Rick Parfitt, who died in 2016 at the age of 68.
Admitting that he often asks himself: “Will I last much longer?” Rossi shared that his age has brought struggles but clarified music remains a key part of his life.
“My wife asks me when we have coffee at about 7ish, 7.30 am, she says, ‘How are you today?'” he began.
The Down Down hitmaker continued: “I go, ‘Well… It’s the morning.’ I get, ‘What the f*** am I doing?
“‘And how one’s going to last too much longer?’ and I can’t get that out of my mind, whatever I do.
“I’ll be alright as the day goes on. I’m going into the studio in a while. And then I look forward to the next meal, and that’s it really.”
Speaking on the Dr Hilary Show podcast, his continued dedication to music was evident despite his health woes.
“You’ve got your guitar with you now, you never stop do you, really?” TV doctor Hilary Jones noted.
“No, it’s one of those things,” he replied. “When I first married my current wife, she played one or two instruments reasonably well, and I thought, ‘well I need to practice more.’
“And so I started practicing quite diligently when I was about 38, and I have to do that every day in some form.”
The popular musician went on: “I’ve done my vocal exercises already this morning because although we’ve been off two weeks, we go back in September-ish, and I’m always paranoid about not being ready.
“In fact I’m dreaming at the moment of walking on with my guitar and I don’t know what to say to the audience.”
“It’s unbelievable that you think like that after all the experience you’ve got, going back to 1962 when you started off,” Jones pointed out.
“That you still feel you need to rehearse and get nervous before a show – that’s incredible,” the doctor admitted.
“Well, I think that’s the alternative to being a smug b******, really,” Rossi responded.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Rossi talked about his friendship with the late Parfitt.
“A serious drinker like that, there are no one or two glasses of wine, and he just kept going and I just drifted more and more apart because of that,” he admitted sadly.
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He continued: “We were so different by the time we were older. We were really, really, really close, fabulously close.
“And I dream sometimes about that time and then wake up and realise that we’d drifted somewhat for whatever reasons, terrible reasons.”