Ex-QUEENSRŸCHE Vocalist GEOFF TATE: 'I'll Keep Singing Songs Until I Can't Do It Anymore'

In a new interview with Conversaciones Necias, former QUEENSRŸCHE vocalist Geoff Tate was asked if he has given any thought to his eventual retirement. He responded: "I think I'll keep traveling and singing songs until I can't do it anymore. I really enjoy it. It's a wonderful lifestyle, and I'm very fortunate and very blessed to still be in good health and able to do it.

"People say to me all the time, 'When are you gonna get a real job?'" he lauched. "This is my job."

Three years ago, Tate appeared to be more open to the idea of someday retiring from recording and performing live. At the time, he told Brickhouse TV: "If and when I can retire at some point, what I'd like to do with my time [is] just spend it in the vineyard. There's a point where you've got to kind of hang up your rock n' roll shoes and only come out on occasion. I've got 19 albums, and I really want to do at least 20, so I think I have one more album in me, maybe two."

But in early 2021, Geoff seemingly had a change of heart, telling Aftershocks TV: "I can't imagine stopping — I really can't. I love traveling and I love performing, so I've got the perfect gig. [Laughs] I can't think of anything else I'd rather do than play music. So I guess as long as I'm still healthy and can still sing [the songs], I'll continue to do it."

Earlier this month, Geoff said that he had still not completely recovered after recently undergoing an unspecified heart procedure.

The 63-year-old musician discussed his health in an interview with Tulsa Music Stream. Asked if he was feeling back to a hundred percent nearly six months after going under the knife, Geoff said: "Yeah, I think I'm — I don't know if I'd say 'a hundred percent', but I think after the New Year I'll be approaching that number. It was a really difficult few months there. [I'd] never been [seriously] ill in my life — I'd never actually been in a hospital ever — so this was something that was quite a bit different to get used to."

This past August, Tate said that "it took about a month" before he "could make a sound" and eventually regain his singing voice.

"I'd never been in a hospital before in my life, or I'd never had anything wrong with me, and this was the first experience for me," he explained to in Ritchie Birnie. "And I was just amazed at how much it took out of me. I've always been a pretty physical, pretty strong person, but, man, when I came out of the hospital, I was weak. I could barely walk."

On July 3, Tate took to his Facebook page to share a photo of him with Dr. Sami Kueri from the department of cardiovascular surgery at the Universitäts-Herzzentrum Freiburg-Bad Krozingen (University Heart Center Freiburg) in Bad Krozingen, Germany, and he included the following message: "All my gratitude to the talented Dr. Sami Kueri for giving me a healthy heart!! Feeling so much better each day!"

In June, Tate said that he would take a few months off the road as he recovered from a medical procedure.

On June 13, Geoff, who fronted QUEENSRŸCHE for 30 years — from the band's inception through 2012 — took to his social media to write: "I am having a medical procedure and my health professionals want me to recover over the Summer. I will be back and rocking South America in January. Looking forward to seeing everyone on the road."

Tate's recent tour celebrated the 30th anniversary of QUEENSRŸCHE's "Empire" and "Rage For Order" albums.

In April 2014, Tate and QUEENSRŸCHE announced that a settlement had been reached after a nearly two-year legal battle where the singer sued over the rights to the QUEENSRŸCHE name after being fired in 2012. Fellow original QUEENSRŸCHE members Michael Wilton (guitar),Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Eddie Jackson (bass) responded with a countersuit. The settlement included an agreement that Wilton, Rockenfield and Jackson would continue as QUEENSRŸCHE, while Tate would have the sole right to perform the albums "Operation: Mindcrime" and "Operation: Mindcrime II" in their entirety live.

Tate was replaced in QUEENSRŸCHE by former CRIMSON GLORY singer Todd La Torre.

Geoff will embark on a tour in 2023 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of "Operation: Mindcrime".