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David Lee Roth announces early 2022 retirement, citing health concerns

By Kelli Dugan, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
By Kelli Dugan, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

LAS VEGAS — Legendary rocker David Lee Roth confirmed Friday that the cradle must rock on without him.

“I am throwing in the shoes. I’m retiring. This is the first, and only, official announcement. … You’ve got the news. Share it with the world. … I’m not going to explain the statement. The explanation is in a safe,” Roth told the Las Vegas Review-Journal by phone.

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According to Variety, Roth will honor five dates scheduled for January at the House of Blues Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

“These are my last five shows,” the flamboyant former Van Halen frontman added.

Roth, 67, spoke exclusively with Review-Journal columnist John Katsilometes, requesting not to be interrupted while he waxed philosophical about health, mortality, the band’s origins and the death of Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen, Variety reported.

“I am encouraged and compelled to really come to grips with how short time is, and my time is probably even shorter. … I thought I might have been the first, frankly … ‘Hey, Ed, objects in the rear-view mirror are probably me.’ And my doctors, my handlers, compelled me to really address that every time I go onstage, I endanger that future,” Roth told the Review-Journal, invoking the memory of Van Halen, whom he called his “beloved classmate.”

Eddie Van Halen died in October 2020 from complications due to throat cancer at the age of 65.

>> Related: Legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen dead at 65

Roth fronted the band three different times, including during its 1974 to 1985 heyday, briefly in 1996, and again from 2006 until Van Halen’s disandment in 2020, Rolling Stone reported.

The upcoming shows - slated for New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Jan. 5 and Jan. 7-8 - will feature Alex Van Halen, the original Van Halen drummer, the Review-Journal reported.

Roth concluded the phone monologue simply, according to Katsilometes.

“I’ve given you all I’ve got to give. It’s been an amazing, great run. No regrets. Nothing to say about anybody. I’ll miss you all. Stay frosty,” Roth said.

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David Lee Roth LONDON - 27th MAY: David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen (right) from Van Halen pose backstage at Lewisham Odeon in London on 27th May 1978. (Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns) (Fin Costello/Redferns via Getty Images)

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