Watch AC/DC’s Brian Johnson Sing Onstage For First Time After Hearing Loss
Fourteen months after Brian Johnson was nearly forced into a premature retirement due to a hearing impairment, the AC/DC singer returned to the stage Sunday night. Johnson joined fellow special guest Robert Plant at Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers’ concert in Oxford, England.
The rocker triumvirate sang the 1959 classic “Money (That’s What I Want),” with each singer taking a spin on lead vocals before harmonizing with each other at song’s end. Most notable of the three, however, was Johnson, who was told just over a year ago to quit singing live or face “total deafness.”
“That was the darkest day of my professional life,” Johnson said in April 2016 of the doctors’ ultimatum. Due to the affliction, AC/DC postponed their remaining Rock or Bust tour dates before ultimately recruiting Axl Rose to fill in for Johnson.
Last June, Johnson shared some positive news regarding his hearing after meeting with an in-ear technology specialist. “I was really moved and amazed to be able to hear music again like I haven’t heard for several years now,” Johnson said at the time. It’s unclear whether Johnson’s return to the stage was a result of that in-ear technology.
As Ultimate Classic Rock notes, Plant and Johnson were recently spotted filming together for the AC/DC singer’s A Life on the Road travelogue TV series, which airs on Sky Arts in the U.K.