David Lee Roth of Van Halen announces retirement, opens up about Eddie Van Halen’s death

David Lee Roth has announced he will be retiring from music.

The former lead singer of rock band Van Halen, 66, revealed the news in a Las Vegas Review-Journal article Friday, saying he is “throwing in the shoes” and stepping back from his prolific music career.

“This is the first, and only, official announcement,” Roth said over the phone in a conversation the outlet described as “more a spoken-word performance than interview.” “You’ve got the news. Share it with the world.”

Roth added he is “not going to explain the statement” and that his five upcoming shows at House of Blues Las Vegas will be his last.

Though Roth did not provide the reason for his retirement, his sudden announcement comes almost a year after Van Halen co-founder and guitarist Eddie Van Halen died from cancer at age 65.

Roth told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he’d been contemplating “the departure of my beloved classmate recently” and said he is “encouraged and compelled to really come to grips with how short time is, and my time is probably even shorter.”

“I thought I might have been the first, frankly,” he said. “And my doctors, my handlers, compelled me to really address that every time I go onstage, I endanger that future.”