The Zombies‘ Rod Argent has announced his immediate retirement from touring following a stroke he suffered.

The news of the keyboardist’s retirement was announced by the band’s managers Chris Tuthill and Cindy da Silva today (July 11) on Instagram.

They shared that Argent had a stroke shortly after spending a weekend in London with his wife Cathy to celebrate their 52nd wedding anniversary as well as his 79th birthday, saying doctors advised him to take “several months of rest and recuperation”.

“He was already preparing to wind down his live performance schedule after health scares on recent tours,” the announcement read. “However, the stroke was an unmistakable warning sign that the risks are too great.”

As such, all upcoming headline appearances from The Zombies have been cancelled, as well as a 2024 US tour that was also in the works. However, the band’s second annual ‘Begin Here Festival’ in St Albans on November 8-10 will continue, with a special show honouring Argent set to replace The Zombies’ originally scheduled performance.

However, Argent will not retire from writing; according to their managers, the songwriter has “already been back at his piano for some much-needed ’Bach therapy’.” Read their full statement below:

NME spoke to frontman Colin Blunstone for our series of Does Rock N’ Roll Kill Braincells?!, where we quiz an artist on their own career to see how much they can remember.

In the interview, Blunstone reminisced about hanging out with bands: “We spent a lot of time with Patti LaBelle – who pranked us by having one of the Bluebells feign going through some weird fainting fit and passing out in the dressing room. They kept it up for a little while – as we’re running around like headless chickens unsure what to do – before they all burst out laughing.

“The Shangri-Las did ‘Leader of the Pack’ and Hugh Grundy got to drive their motorcycle on stage with lead singer Mary Weiss on the back seat,” he continued. “They had another song called ‘Give Him a Great Big Kiss’ which she’d start by giving Rod a kiss on stage, so he enjoyed that! We weren’t allowed to go out during the day because there were so many fans outside the theatre. Our guitarist Paul Atkinson ignored this once and was besieged by fans rushing towards him. They tore his shirt off and had him pressed up against a shopfront. At that point, the police ordered everyone to stay inside!”