20 successful musicians who retired early

Often considered one of the most virtuosic drummers in rock history, Neil Peart gave the prog-rock band Rush a distinctive and pummeling edge. Peart was also responsible for many of the band's highfalutin and philosophical lyrics. Rush played its last show together in 2015 before it was revealed in the band's documentary, "Time Stand Still," that Peart had been suffering immense pain and had to retire consequently.

In a career that spanned 40 years and was littered with a dozen platinum records and 10 Grammys, the singing finally came to an end in 2009, when Linda Ronstadt played her final show. In 2019, the documentary "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice" told the story of why she left. Speaking directly to the camera, Ronstadt revealed she had Parkinson's disease, which sadly robbed her of her vocal ability.

Phil Collins, Genesis' drummer and the hitmaker behind "In the Air Tonight," began experiencing health-related concerns in 2009 after injuring the vertebrae in his upper neck. Following a 14-year live hiatus, he joined Genesis in the fall of 2022 for its last show. Despite his visible frailty, Collins sat center stage, joking that he'd need to find a "real job" after the band's dissolution.

In a February 2025 interview with MOJO, Collins gave a sad update on making music again. "I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens," he said. "But I'm not hungry for it anymore. The thing is, I've been sick, I mean very sick."

Alice Nutter, perhaps best known as the operatic singer on Chumbawamba's one-hit-wonder "Tubthumping," ultimately left her musical days behind her after a 23-year career to pursue writing full-time. Now in her early 60s, Nutter writes for the stage and screen. Her most recent credit is the 2023 TV adaptation of "The Full Monty," which she co-created and co-wrote.

Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart, set a new template for avant-garde rock in the 1960s. By the decade's end, he had released the influential double LP "Trout Mask Replica," often considered his magnum opus. Following a slew of releases, Beefheart retired from music in 1982, disappearing from public life and into the Mojave Desert, where he spent the rest of his life painting and making visual art.

After releasing 1998's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea," one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 1990s, Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum seemed to fall off the face of the Earth. Alongside the band, Mangum seemed content to depart from music and public life after only releasing two albums. In 2013, however, Neutral Milk Hotel reunited for a tour and spent two years on the road. It looked like the group might be back for good, but the pull of retirement must have been too strong for Mangum and his bandmates. In 2015, Neutral Milk Hotel announced that their spring shows would be "our last tour for the foreseeable future." Ten years later, neither Mangum nor the group as a whole have performed again or released any new music.

As lead vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, Grace Slick was one of the most prominent figures of the 1960s psychedelic rock movement. The band's 1967 album "Surrealistic Pillow" achieved great commercial success, making them one of the first Bay Area bands to receive worldwide recognition. Slick departed shortly after, revealing that her age led her to quit rock 'n' roll.

A great many musicians threaten retirement throughout their careers. But rarely do any of them follow through on that promise. Unfortunately, that was the case with Bill Withers, the soul singer who produced many timeless hits during his short-lived career. Tired of touring and of his fraught relationship with his record company, Withers retired in the mid-'80s, and nothing seemed to lure him back into the limelight.

Willa Ford rose to fame at the start of the 2000s alongside Britney Spears and a boom of women pop stars. Ford's hit "I Wanna Be Bad" shot to the top of the charts in May 2001. But her follow-up singles didn't do quite so well. Ultimately, Ford traded in the microphone and stage for interior design. In 2012, she birthed her own firm, W Ford Interiors.

In June 2024, Ford said she would be releasing new music for the first time in 20 years, and that it would be out by January 2025. As of February 2025, however, there have been no further updates. It's worth noting that this wasn't the first time Ford had teased a comeback; for the time being, we can consider her retired from her music career.

Throughout Kate Bush's stretch from her 1978 debut "The Kick Inside" to 2011's "50 Words for Snow," the mystical singer only embarked on one tour. Following years of silence, Bush played a series of shows in London in 2014, singing songs from throughout her career. Bush, who has developed a reclusive reputation, reemerged briefly in 2022 with words of gratitude when her 1985 track "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" became one of the biggest tracks of the year, thanks to its inclusion in the fourth season of "Stranger Things." Bush was also inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2023, though she declined to attend the ceremony.

Syd Barrett, the frontman and creative mastermind behind Pink Floyd, immediately seemed ill-equipped to deal with the fanfare of fame. Saddled with addiction, Barrett departed from Pink Floyd in 1968 and went on to live most of his life in relative seclusion. At 60, Barrett died of cancer, leaving behind a formidable legacy despite only a brief stint in the limelight.

John Deacon was a relative late-comer to Queen, joining the band in 1971, just a year after frontman Freddie Mercury's enlistment. Responsible for hits like "Another One Bites the Dust," Deacon became integral to the band before his retirement in the early '90s, which came soon after Mercury's death in 1991.

Cindy Birdsong began her musical career as one part of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles before gaining greater notoriety in 1967 when she joined the Supremes. The trio achieved stratospheric success, but that didn't stop Birdsong from leaving the group (twice) in the 1970s. Birdsong's dream had always been to become a nurse, which she did soon after retiring from music.

The wry alternative rock band Pulp put Sheffield back on the musical map toward the end of the 1980s. Sharing the stage with frontman Jarvis Cocker, the band's violinist, Russell Senior, lent the band an eccentric edge. After 13 years in the band, Senior left Pulp in 1997 and later embarked on a career as an antique dealer.

Right after the heavy metal band Faith No More released its album "Angel Dust" to critical and commercial applause, Jim Martin, the band's guitarist, left the group just at the peak of its success. After 15 years of relative silence, Martin answered a series of fan questions for a U.K.-based blog and explained that his departure was due to no longer aligning with the band's musical direction.

While you probably know him best as the indie actor in films like "Rushmore," Jason Schwartzman first earned his name as the drummer for Phantom Planet, the band behind the iconic theme song of "The O.C." He's also written music for the screen, including the theme for HBO's "Bored to Death," but with little musical output since. It may be safe to assume that Schwartzman has ultimately traded in music for acting.

His music has been played on both the Glastonbury main stage and on a spaceship to Mars, but Blur's drummer, Dave Rowntree, has taken a few career u-turns away from music since. In 2009, he trained as a solicitor. In 2010, he became a campaigner for the Labor party. Later, he explained that those decisions were basically "a mid-life crisis." Now, Rowntree works as a composer.

As one half of the White Stripes, the band she co-founded with then-husband Jack White, Meg White saw tremendous success with breakthrough singles like "Seven Nation Army" and "Fell in Love With a Girl." But following a lengthy hiatus, the White Stripes officially confirmed their split in February 2011. While Jack has continued performing, dropping his most recent solo album in 2024, Meg stepped away from the spotlight completely. In June 2023, a writer for ELLE documented her attempts to secure an interview with Meg, but she was only able to to communicate with Meg's friend. "She spent 15 years traveling and touring and playing," the friend said. "It's not that odd to think that she just likes to be home."

As a musician, Henry Rollins may be best known as frontman of the hardcore band Black Flag from 1981 until the group disbanded in 1986. Rollins continued on with the Rollins Band, and also as a spoken-word artist. Over the years, Rollins has become recognized as an activist and for his TV appearances, but he's stepped away from music. In a 2016 interview, he said, "For me, music was a time and a place. I never really enjoyed being in a band. It was in me and it needed to come out, like a 25-year exorcism. One day, I woke up, and I didn't have any more lyrics." More recently, in October 2024, Rollins confirmed that he was retired from music. "I'm smart enough to not come back for the encore," he shared.

All '90s kids remember Ace of Base hits like "All That She Wants" and "The Sign." The Swedish group, formed by siblings Jonas, Jenny, and Linn Berggrenn with Ulf Ekberg, has never disbanded, but they stopped performing together in the early 2000s. While most members went on to make music, Linn Berggren stepped away from the industry completely. In a 2015 ABC News catch-up with band members, Ekberg confirmed that Linn would never return to Ace of Base. "She left the band and we promised her to never even ask to come back," he revealed. "She's done with [the] entertainment industry. It's understandable. It's brutal from the inside, it was not for her. She has no craving to be famous, she loved her fans, but the fame factor was not for her."

A former member of the band Dream Theater and the founder of the Chroma Key music project, Kevin Moore had an unconventional music career before leaving it behind. In a 2013 interview with Fates Warning — a band whose albums Moore had collaborated on — vocalist Ray Alder said "good luck finding" Moore, before revealing that he was in his third year of medical school. Yes, Moore became a doctor. Since 2020, he's been a psychiatrist at Trinity Health in Minot, North Dakota.