Once they’ve reached their 80s, most people have embraced retirement and have slowed down in their later years. In music, entering the octogenarian phase has barely been a license for deceleration. In 2023, Mick Jagger turned 80, months before Keith Richards takes the plunge into this eight-decade in December. Chubby Checker hit 81, Bob Dylan came in a year ahead of him, and Judy Collins marked her 84th year of life.
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Right on the cusp of the big 9-0, 89-year-old Frankie Valli released a new album, Touch of Jazz, in 2021, while 2023 marked even bigger milestone birthdays for Yoko Ono and country legend Willie Nelson, who both reached the nonagenarian mark.
All continue to perform or remain active in their art in some way, which affirms the power of music through the ages. Here’s a look at five more artists still powering on well into their 80th year.
1. Pat Boone
Born June 1, 1931
Celebrating his 70th anniversary in entertainment, Pat Boone has continued acting and recently starred in the films A Cowgirl’s Story in 2017, and The Mulligan in 2022. He also hosts the SiriusXM radio show The Pat Boone Hour and continues a book tour for his 28th release The Eternal Choice We All Must Make.
Throughout his career, Boone has shown many musical sides, from his heavy metal album, In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, in the late ’90s and We Are Family: R&B Classics in 2006, along with several country albums. For the past 20 years, Boone has also run The Gold Label, which has published releases from legendary acts like Patti Page, Sha Na Na, The Ventures, Roger Williams, Debby Boone, Glen Campbell, Jack Jones, and Cleo Laine, along with his own music.
In 2023, 89-year-old Boone revisited Red Foley’s 1950 hit “Chattanoogie Shoeshine Boy,” which Boone originally released on his 1956 album, Howdy!
2. Engelbert Humperdinck
May 2, 1936
Crowned the “King of Romance,” Engelbert Humperdinck has mastered love throughout his nearly 60-year career. Love has been the bedrock of Humperdinck’s music and penetrated his collection of songs from albums Release Me, The Last Waltz, A Man Without Love, his eponymous 1969 release — with hits “Winter World of Love” and the Burt Bacharach and Hal David-penned “I’m a Better Man” — and throughout the present.
“Romance is what starts a love life,” Humperdinck told American Songwriter in 2023. “People love to hear things that relate to their relationship, and my stories are of that nature.”
[RELATED: Engelbert Humperdinck Never Tires Talking ‘All About Love’]
On May 2, 2023, Humperdinck turned 87, and he celebrated by releasing a new album, All About Love. The covers collection featured 13 R&B and pop classic songs by the Bee Gees, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Barry White, Lou Rawls, and The Flamingos, among many more.
3. Tom Jones
June 7, 1940
With a career spanning nearly 60 years since releasing his debut Along Came Jones, Tom Jones has delivered hits “It’s Not Unusual,” “Delilah,” “What’s New Pussycat,” and “Sex Bomb” among others. In 2021, Jones released his fourth album of covers, and 41st release overall, Surrounded by Time, featuring his renditions of songs by Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, The Waterboys, and more.
In 2006, Jones was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II and received the Hitmaker Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009.
[RELATED: Tom Jones on Songwriting, Getting Older, and Recording a Bob Dylan Album]
Jones also performed with fellow Welshman Stereophonics in his hometown of Cardiff, Wales, at the Principality Stadium in 2022 before embarking on his Ages and Stages Tour in 2023.
4. Ringo Starr
July 7, 1940
Just like his former bandmate Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr has more than six decades of music under his belt from the Beatles through his 20 solo albums, and he still keeps his seat behind the drum kit with his band Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.
Formed in 1989, his All-Star Band has undergone 14 lineup changes throughout the decades. That lineup change was always the concept of the group, currently consisting of Starr along with Steve Lukather, Edgar Winter, Colin Hay, Hamish Stuart, Warren Ham, and Gregg Bissonette.
“When I first started putting All-Star bands together, we would change the band completely,” said Starr during a 2023 press conference. “We did that for 20 years, and now, I think it’s just more joy. I’ve only changed two people last year for this band, and it’s easier. I did it because I thought that’s what I had to do, change the band. But this band is good for me.”
[RELATED: The Origins of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band]
In 2021, Starr also began releasing a collection of EPs with Zoom In, followed by Change the World, and EP3. He also recently revealed that he’s prepping a country EP for 2024.
5. Paul McCartney
June 18, 1942
In 2022, Paul McCartney returned to Glastonbury as a headliner for the first time since 2004, along with performing at a tribute concert for late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. Shortly after, McCartney released a book of photography, 1964: Eyes of the Storm, accompanied by an extensive exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in London in June of 2023.
The 336-page book features 275 images taken by McCartney at the end of 1963 and the beginning of 1964 when Beatlemania exploded in the U.K. It also follows the Beatles‘ first visit to the U.S.— along with his own recollections of each photo.
[RELATED: 6 Songs You Didn’t Know John Lennon and Paul McCartney Wrote for Other Artists]
Now 81, McCartney, who released his 18th solo album McCartney III in 2020, recently revealed the possible beginning of a world tour with new shows scheduled in Australia. McCartney is also readying the release of new music by the Beatles, which will include a final song called “Now and Then,” originally recorded by John Lennon in 1978.
Photo: Craig Sotres / Courtesy of Reybee, Inc.
