When The Who sang “Hope I die before I get old,” it may have sounded pretty cool at the time.
Upon second thought, though, people were like, “Uh, yeah, speak for yourself.”
It’s actually more fun to be alive, and if you can do what you do right into old age, all the better.
In the 2020s, the first wave of rock ’n’ rollers has mostly passed and the second wave is crossing the 80s threshold.
Many have done that quite gracefully with their chops still intact (enough) to tour, and, in some rare cases, the creative juice to produce compelling new music.
This weekend, Pittsburgh celebrates the 80th birthday of one of its own, Donnie Iris, who was a one-hit wonder with The Jaggerz and then got new life with Wild Cherry and The Cruisers.
With that in mind, here are 21 musicians who are 80-plus and still rock, in their various ways. It’s not a comprehensive list, so add your favorites in the comments.
Bobby Rush (89)
The blues/R&B/funk singer’s first band, Bobby Rush and the Four Jivers, featured none other than Pinetop Perkins, who would make it all the way to 97. Rush, born in Louisiana, became part of the famed Chicago blues scene in the late ’50s and had his breakout hit in 1970 with “Chicken Heads.” He won his first Grammy in 2017, at the age of 83 (!), for the album “Porcupine Meat,” and he is on tour this spring, with a new musical about him in the works.
Frankie Valli (88)
The eternally boyish singer from Newark — the subject of “Jersey Boys” — started his professional career as a teenager in the early ’50s and had his breakout success in 1962, hitting the high falsetto on the Four Seasons’ hit “Sherry.” They ruled the charts with "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like a Man," "Rag Doll," etc., and when that doo-wop style faded, Valli bounced back in 1967 with “Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and then again in the mid-’70s with “My Eyes Adored You” and "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)." He continues to tour with a young version of the Four Seasons and will be at Heinz Hall on April 30.
Willie Nelson (87)
With a simple, stunning tone and otherworldly phrasing — on both his vocals and guitar — Willie doesn’t have to exert himself much to be brilliant in concert. He demonstrates that every time he comes to town, including last year. His recording career spans a whopping 73 albums, from 1962’s “And Then I Wrote” to “I Don't Know A Thing About Love: The Songs of Harlan Howard,” released last week.
Duke Fakir (87)
As the lone surviving member, he continues to perform with The Four Tops, the Motown legends who had their first hit in 1964 with “Baby I Need Your Loving."
Buddy Guy (86)
Guy, born in Louisiana and discovered in Chicago in the late ’50s, is arguably the last of the great blues legends. His rough-and-rowdy style influenced the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, who once called him "the best guitar player alive.” If you’ve seen him run through crowds with his guitar or go on one of his hilarious rants, you know he’s a master showman as well.
Gordon Lightfoot (84)
How is Gordon Lightfoot 84? Other than being born in 1938? Although the Canadian folk-rocker released his first single in 1962, he was a late bloomer on the charts, scoring his first U.S. hit in 1970 with "If You Could Read My Mind," following that with “Sundown” and “Carefree Highway” (1974) and finishing his chart run with “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (1976). All four are staples on the various SiriusXM adult-listening channels. He still makes it to town just about every year and has released 22 albums, most recently 2021’s “Beginnings.”
Smokey Robinson (83)
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles went to No. 2 in 1960 with “Shop Around” and for the next decade it was a parade of timeless hits: "I Second That Emotion,” “The Tears of a Clown,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” “Going to a Go-Go,” etc. That was in addition to Smokey writing classics for the Temptations, Four Tops, Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye and other Motown greats. Just last month, the silky-voiced singer, who owns a house here in Robinson, demonstrated he still has that magic touch in a Grammy jam with Stevie Wonder (a youngster at 72) and Chris Stapleton.
Dion (83)
The doo-wop rocker from The Bronx helped keep rock ’n’ roll going in the early ’60s with such bangers as "Runaround Sue" and "The Wanderer.” He became a Christian artist in the late ’70s and then returned to rock ’n’ roll around 1989, when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A few of his fans — Van Morrison, Jeff Beck, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen — appeared on his 2020 album “Blues with Friends” and he followed that in 2021 with “Stomping Ground.”
Judy Collins (83)
The folk singer from Denver, by way of Seattle, released her first single in 1961 and came to fame in 1967 with her cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.” She was just in town to support the Grammy-nominated “Spellbound,” her 29th album and first ever to contain all original material.
Dionne Warwick (82)
The cool R&B/soul singer from New Jersey was discovered by composer Burt Bacharach, who recently passed away at 94, and had her first major chart success in 1964 with "Walk On By." In all, she’s had 80 singles in the Hot 100, including the classics "I Say a Little Prayer," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" and "That’s What Friends Are For." She is still performing and is the executive producer of “HITS! The Musical,” which is at the Benedum on March 11.
Shirley Alston Reeves (82)
Reeves, no relation to Martha, formed The Shirelles in 1957 and enjoyed her first No. 1 hit with “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” a song by another octogenarian, Carole King (mentioned below). Reeves, who still tours, has been a popular attraction at Pittsburgh oldies shows.
Bob Dylan (81)
It was Dylan who said, “He not busy born is busy dying,” and the Gemini took those words to heart during a career in which he was constantly reinventing himself and defying expectations, for better or worse. Over the last decade, he’s fashioned himself as a traditional crooner, despite the voice being even more raw and raspy. Although he’s not going to carry the melodies like he once did, Dylan, the constantly touring troubadour trades that for a realness you won’t find many other places. His most recent album, “Rough and Rowdy Ways,” was lyrically dense and filled with ideas.
Graham Nash (81)
The British star, who started his career with The Hollies in 1962, was the oldest of the famed foursome Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young — just a few months older than his longtime companion Crosby, who passed away last month. The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer with the beautiful high tenor will release his first album of new material in seven years, “Now,” on May 19. He brings his Sixty Years of Songs & Stories to Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall on April 21-22.
Mike Love (81) and Brian Wilson (80)
The Endless Summer rolls on for these two Beach Boys, who have been estranged (at least musically) since 1990, with the exception of the 2011 reunion. Love still leads The Beach Boys, which also includes Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston, both 80. Cousin Brian, the genius of the operation, has a stellar solo band that, let’s just say, carries the tunes.
Ringo Starr (81)
“With a little help from my friends” truly is the motto of the former Beatle, who made a brilliant move back in 1989. Rather than being a Beatles cover artist — he only sang lead on 11 songs — he formed the All-Starr Band to mix his hits with those of other legends such as Joe Walsh, Todd Rundgren, Edgar Winter and Steve Lukather. Not only are Ringo’s songs easy for him to sing — there was very little range to begin with — the man doesn’t seem to age.
Chubby Checker (81)
The Philly-raised artist born Ernest Evans got his unforgettable stage name via a conversation with Dick Clark’s wife. A couple years later, in 1960, he went to the top of the charts with “The Twist,” a novelty cover of a Hank Ballard & The Midnighters song that had the planet swiveling its hips. The following summer he was back in the Top 10 with "Let's Twist Again.” He would move on to the Pony, the Fly, the Limbo and the Hucklebuck, securing himself a permanent place in the oldies world. He has gigs at the Niagara Falls casino in Ontario this month.
Otis Williams (81)
Williams, the last surviving original member of The Temptations, continues to perform with the Motown legends who broke out in 1964 with "The Way You Do the Things You Do."
Martha Reeves (81)
Although her performing history went back to 1957, with the Del-Phis, Reeves was doing office work at Motown in 1962 when she and her friends got the chance to sing on Marvin Gaye’s first singles. The next year, Martha and the Vandellas went Top 10 with "Heat Wave" and charted five more top 10s over the next several years, including "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run." Reeves, who became a Detroit councilwoman in the ’00s, continues to perform sporadically.
Paul McCartney (80)
He’s still the cute Beatle. One-half of the greatest songwriting duo in history, McCartney has also held on to his voice and youthful energy. The last show he did, at the Glastonbury Festival in England in June, ran almost three hours and 35 songs. He’s more than a jukebox, though, as he demonstrated on “McCartney III,” a Grammy-nominated 2020 album that challenged listeners with some weird and wondrous material.
Roger McGuinn (80)
The founder and former frontman for The Byrds was at the forefront of both folk-rock (with the 1965 cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man”), psychedelic rock (“Eight Miles High” in 1966) and country-rock (“Sweetheart of the Rodeo” in 1968). He still tours, often solo, and on his website he releases interpretations of songs under the banner of Folk Den Project.
John Cale (80)
The classically trained Welshman co-founded The Velvet Underground in New York in 1964 but left in 1968, appearing only on the band’s first two albums. He later reunited with them for shows in ’90s. He began his avant-garde solo career in 1970 with “Vintage Violence” and it continues with the newly released 17th album “Mercy.”
Lou Christie (80)
Pittsburgh’s own Lou Christie is one of the latest to the 80 Club, having just hit the plateau on Feb. 19. Born Luigi Sacco, the singer graduated from Moon Area High School and in 1962 followed in the footsteps of Frankie Valli with his own falsetto hit, “The Gypsy Cried.” In 1965, he went No. 1 with “Lightnin’ Strikes.” Christie is still touring and still wowing crowds with those sky-high notes.
Retired but still kickin’: Tony Bennett (96); Grace Slick (83); Tina Turner, Neil Diamond (82); Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, George Clinton, Carole King (81).
Getting there: Mick Jagger, Roger Daltrey, Jimmy Page, Roger Waters, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Mickey Hart (79); Rod Stewart, Gladys Knight, Diana Ross, Booker T. Jones (78); Neil Young, Pete Townshend, Van Morrison, John Fogerty, David Gilmour, Robby Krieger, Debbie Harry (77).
First Published: March 7, 2023, 11:00 a.m.
Updated: March 7, 2023, 11:02 p.m.
