Aerosmith's Tyler Set for Surgery

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler will undergo throat surgery this week, forcing the classic-rock icons to cancel the remaining twelve dates of their North American Rockin' the Joint tour with Eighties hair-metal vets Cheap Trick. The jaunt, now in its fifth leg, was scheduled to run through April 9th in Vancouver.

"Despite Aerosmith's desire to keep the tour going as long as possible, Tyler's doctors advised him not to continue performing to give his voice time to recover," the band's publicist, Marcee Rondan, said in a statement. Rondon added that Tyler, who turns fifty-eight on Sunday, was "doing fine" but would be out of commission for two to three months following the operation.

Though Aerosmith will now be on hiatus, the group will return with a new album and tour dates.

"It's going to be just like what the White Stripes are doing, and like a couple of songs on Sheryl Crow's new album," Tyler told Rolling Stone of the new material before Aerosmith launched their spring tour. "You'll listen to it and be like, 'I've heard that before' -- but you never did."

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, who've been on the tour since last October in support of the live CD/DVD Rockin' the Joint, had cancelled eight shows in early March -- including performances in Lexington, Kentucky; Pensacola, Florida; and Manchester, New Hampshire -- citing illness as the reason for the cancellations. No further details were released at the time.

Currently, Aerosmith is still scheduled to inaugurate the first Rock'N the Rally music festival in Sturgis, South Dakota, running August 6th through 10th. The five-day event, also featuring the Steve Miller Band, Big & Rich, Deep Purple and REO Speedwagon, coincides with the legendary annual Sturgis Bike Week, and hopes to draw on the estimated 600,000 bikers set to descend on the town of 7,000.

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

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