Peter Frampton Reveals Rare Muscular Disease Diagnosis After Announcing Farewell Tour
Peter Frampton is getting in one last hurrah.
On Friday, the legendary musician announced his upcoming farewell tour, Peter Frampton Finale: The Farewell Tour presented by SiriusXM, set to take place between June 18 and Oct. 12 later this year; the next day, he revealed the reason why this tour will be his last.
During an interview on CBS This Morning: Saturday, Frampton, 68, shared that he suffers from a rare degenerative muscular disease, Inclusion-Body Myositis. He was first diagnosed with the disease three and a half years ago, after falling onstage.
"I’m thinking of all the times in my life that I have something devastating [that] has happened to my career or in my family or me," he expressed. "I’ve brushed myself off, got myself up and changed directions."
The Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center states that IBM is a “progressive muscle disorder characterized by muscle inflammation, weakness, and atrophy.” The disease usually develops in individuals after age 50, and generally speaking, the older the individual is, the more rapidly their IBM symptoms progress.
There is currently no cure for IBM, however, Frampton is taking part in a new drug trial at Johns Hopkins University. “If this is the farewell tour, then maybe if the drug trial works, there’ll be the miracle tour,” he told CBS This Morning. “I wish, but I’m realistic too.”
“I’ve been playing guitar for 60 years, started when I was 8 and now I’m 68. So, I’ve had a very good run,” he continued.
Frampton opened up more about his disease to Rolling Stone, revealing that he had several onstage falls before seeking help from a doctor. His symptoms are worsening, but he said he can still "play great guitar," and wants to go out "at the top of my game."
“I don’t want to go out and not be able to play well. If I’m going to do a farewell tour, I want to play good. I want to rock it. I know that this tour, I will be able to do everything I did last year and the year before," he shared. "That’s the most important thing to me. I want to go out screaming as opposed to, ‘He can’t play anymore.'"
One dollar from every ticket sold for the farewell tour will go towards to the research fund he created with Johns Hopkins. “It’s a very boutique -- I hate to use that word, but it is -- disease," Frampton explained. "Only 24,000 people in this country know they have it. But I’m sure there’s a lot more that just think they are getting old like I did."
A post shared by Peter Frampton (@mrpeterframpton) on Feb 22, 2019 at 7:08am PST
Eventually, IBM will start to affect his finger flexors, which will prevent him from playing the guitar like he wants to. For now, however, he's taking full advantage of his talents.
“We are recording like maniacs at my studio in Nashville. We’ve done two albums already,” he told Rolling Stone. “I want to record as much as I can in the shortest space of time. We’re actually working on three projects. I’m very much feeling that I’m playing like always. Some people are saying even better, but I’d let them say that.”
See more in the video below.
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