“I hope I die before I get old,” sang Roger Daltrey in The Who’s 1965 rock classic “My Generation.” One original member of the band, drummer Keith Moon, achieved just that, succumbing to a drug overdose in 1978 at the age of 32. The Who’s bassist, John Entwistle, made it to 57, dying of a drug-induced heart attack in 2002.
Daltrey, however, is still going strong at 77 (he released his most recent solo album in 2018), as is the group’s 75-year-old co-founder and lead guitarist, Pete Townshend.
Rock and roll has not been kind to many of its most legendary figures. Drugs, accidents, and violence have claimed a distressing number of top performers before their 30th birthdays. Richie Valens died at 17, Buddy Holly at 22, Duane Allman at 24, Marc Bolan at 29. The end of the line was 27 for Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Amy Winehouse.
Other rockers, though, somehow manage to survive — either avoiding the temptations of the road (in a few cases), maturing out of risky behavior early on, or simply being lucky.
Click here to see 35 rock stars now 75 or older
Evolving out of rhythm and blues, the precursors of rock and roll first appeared around 1944; the genre’s first big hit, Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock,” was recorded in 1954. (See the most famous rock band formed every year since 1960.)
A surprising number of major rock stars, then, are older than the music itself — and a surprising number are still alive, and in most cases still recording and even touring. And why not? As one of these oldsters, Bob Seger, once put it, “Rock and roll never forgets.” (These are the 100 most popular rock bands of all time.)
Neil Young
> Age: 75
> Birthday: Nov. 12, 1945
> Known for: Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; “Harvest”
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Bryan Ferry
> Age: 75
> Birthday: Sept. 26, 1945
> Known for: Roxy Music, “Slave to Love”
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Van Morrison
> Age: 75
> Birthday: Aug. 31, 1945
> Known for:Them, “Brown-Eyed Girl,” “Astral Weeks,” “Moondance”
Debbie Harry
> Age: 75
> Birthday: July 1, 1945
> Known for: Blondie
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John Fogerty
> Age: 75
> Birthday: May 28, 1945
> Known for: Creedence Clearwater Revival, “The Old Man Down the Road”
Pete Townshend
> Age: 75
> Birthday: May 19, 1945
> Known for: The Who, “My Generation,” “Tommy”
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Bob Seger
> Age: 75
> Birthday: May 6, 1945
> Known for: “Night Moves,” “Against the Wind,” “Old Time Rock and Roll”
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Eric Clapton
> Age: 75
> Birthday: Mar. 30, 1945
> Known for: The Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”
Rod Stewart
> Age: 76
> Birthday: Jan. 10, 1945
> Known for: Faces, “Maggie May,” “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)”
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Stephen Stills
> Age: 76
> Birthday: Jan. 3, 1945
> Known for: Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; “Love the One You’re With”
Jeff Beck
> Age: 76
> Birthday: June 24, 1944
> Known for: The Yardbirds; the Jeff Beck Group; Beck, Bogert & Appice
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Ray Davies
> Age: 76
> Birthday: June 21, 1944
> Known for: The Kinks
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Boz Scaggs
> Age: 76
> Birthday: June 8, 1944
> Known for: Steve Miller Band, “Lowdown,” “Lido Shuffle”
Gladys Knight
> Age: 76
> Birthday: May 28, 1944
> Known for: Gladys Knight & the Pips, “Midnight Train to Georgia”
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Roger Daltrey
> Age: 77
> Birthday: Mar. 1, 1944
> Known for: The Who
Jimmy Page
> Age: 77
> Birthday: Jan. 9. 1944
> Known for: The Yardbirds, Led Zepplin
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Keith Richards
> Age: 77
> Birthday: Dec. 18, 1943
> Known for: The Rolling Stones
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Randy Newman
> Age: 77
> Birthday: Nov. 28, 1943
> Known for: “Short People,” “I Love L.A.,” “Mama Told Me Not to Come”
Steve Miller
> Age: 77
> Birthday: Oct. 5, 1943
> Known for: Steve Miller Band, “The Joker,” “Fly Like an Eagle”
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Roger Waters
> Age: 77
> Birthday: Sept. 6, 1943
> Known for: Pink Floyd, “The Wall”
Mick Jagger
> Age: 77
> Birthday: July 26, 1943
> Known for:
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Brian Wilson
> Age: 78
> Birthday: June 20, 1942
> Known for: The Beach Boys
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Paul McCartney
> Age: 78
> Birthday: June 18, 1942
> Known for: The Beatles, Wings
John Cale
> Age: 79
> Birthday: Mar. 9, 1942
> Known for: The Velvet Underground, “Paris 1919”
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Paul Simon
> Age: 79
> Birthday: Oct. 13, 1941
> Known for: Simon & Garfunkel, “Graceland”
Chubby Checker
> Age: 79
> Birthday: Oct. 3, 1941
> Known for: “The Twist”
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David Crosby
> Age: 79
> Birthday: Aug. 14, 1941
> Known for: The Byrds; Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
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George Clinton
> Age: 79
> Birthday: July 22, 1941
> Known for: Parliament, Funkadelic
Bob Dylan
> Age: 79
> Birthday: May 24, 1941
> Known for: “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Idiot Wind,” “Positively 4th Street,” “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright,” etc., etc.
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Ringo Starr
> Age: 80
> Birthday: July 7, 1940
> Known for: The Beatles, “Yellow Submarine”
Tina Turner
> Age: 81
> Birthday: Nov. 26, 1939
> Known for: Ike & Tina Turner, “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “Private Dancer”
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Grace Slick
> Age: 81
> Birthday: Oct. 30, 1939
> Known for: Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, “White Rabbit”
Jerry Lee Lewis
> Age: 85
> Birthday: Sept. 29, 1935
> Known for: “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Great Balls of Fire”
Huey “Piano” Smith
> Age: 87
> Birthday: Jan. 26, 1934
> Known for: “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu,” “Don’t You Just Know It,” “High Blood Pressure”
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Lloyd Price
> Age: 88
> Birthday: Mar. 9, 1933
> Known for: “Personality,” “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”
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