Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler has suffered serious vocal cord damage, resulting in the postponement of six shows during the band’s farewell tour.
Tyler wrote: “I’m heartbroken to say I have received strict doctor’s orders not to sing for the next 30 days. I sustained vocal cord damage during Saturday’s show that led to subsequent bleeding. We’ll need to postpone a few dates so that we can come back and give you the performance you deserve.”
The band were due to finish their tour in January 2024, but will now conclude it in February due to the rescheduled dates.
The tour, entitled Peace Out, was billed as “the best show of our lives” by the band when they announced it in May. They have played three dates so far since opening in Philadelphia earlier this month.
The band still features founding members Tyler, lead guitarist Joe Perry, guitarist Brad Whitford and bassist Tom Hamilton, with founder drummer Joey Kramer missing the tour “to focus his full attention on his family and health”, the band said in a statement.
Tyler is also currently facing a lawsuit from a woman, Julia Misley (formerly known as Julia Holcomb), who alleges sexual battery, sexual assault and intentional infliction of distress by the singer over three years from 1973, beginning when she was 16. Tyler had written about the alleged incidents in his memoir, recalling that he asked Misley’s parents for legal guardianship of her, “so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state”. Misley’s lawsuit alleges Tyler “coerced and persuaded [her] into believing this was a ‘romantic love affair’.”
After Misley filed the lawsuit in December 2022, Tyler responded with a series of denials in an April 2023 legal filing, which claim that Misley “has not suffered any injury or damage” due to him. It claims Misley’s allegations “are barred in whole or in part by Plaintiff’s consent” to the sexual activity, and “because of immunity or qualified immunity to Defendant as caregiver and/or guardian”. Misley’s lawyer subsequently argued that Tyler is “using a sham legal guardianship to avoid prosecution for sex crimes”.
