Mark McGrath of the band Sugar Ray has revealed he is going deaf.
The frontman released late ’90s and early 2000s hits with the band including Fly, Every Morning, Someday, and When It’s Over that are still popular today. The band has continued touring, with live performances scheduled through the end of the year.
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As you can imagine, the hearing health update is absolutely a concern for him as he continues performing. Mark shared with the DailyMailTV:
“I’m deaf now. I cannot hear any more. It’s years and years of being on the road and being two feet in front of symbols and drums. So high frequencies, I can’t hear anymore. I’ll be listening to people and they’ll tell me their names and I can’t hear anymore. It’s scary because my job is hearing. [The future] is absolutely a worry of mine.”
The 51-year-old issued a warning for future musicians to use in-ear monitors, which he previously was not using while hitting the stage:
“Fortunately for the new generation, they have in ears. I’m dumb enough not to use them though. I still need the sight sounds and smells of a concert and that includes the auditory part, but unfortunately, mine’s going. As I get older, my health’s going, I have knee problems, back problems. So I am working on the hearing now. It’s something that recently last year my doctor said you’ve got to step back a little bit.”
He added that his wife of seven years, Carin Kingsland, has been proactive about preventing future hearing damage:
“It’s like if you start losing your hair, you’re like, ‘I’m not losing my hair.’ But hearing is the same way, but it’s something I do have to get on it. You can’t repair your hearing. Once it goes, it goes. You can hope to stop the damage.”
The father to nine-year-old twins Lydon Edward and Hartley Grace shared how quickly he saw things changing with his life, and subsequently his health:
“It’s funny, I got into music and rock n’ roll not to worry about any of this: business, mindsets, health. I wanted to party, I’m in a band, that’s what you do. And then life catches up to you and reality happens and by the grace of God we became a band, also, I found myself running a multi-million dollar corporation.”
Mark also recognized he’s not the first artist to have this happen to. Huey Lewis, frontman of Huey Lewis and the News canceled all future tour dates in April 2018 when he revealed he was suffering from hearing loss due to Ménière’s disease:
“The whole Huey Lewis thing has been a warning for all of this for sure. There’s a lot in play there. It’s one of those things you don’t even want to admit.”
We are sending you our support, Mark!
[Image via Judy Eddy/WENN.]
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