Billy Joel has shed new light on his health and potential return to the stage.
Joel, 77, shared last year that he had been diagnosed with the brain condition hydrocephalus after suffering an onstage fall. He has since been forced to cancel a series of concert dates.
Asked in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter if he’ll be able to tour again in the future, Joel answered bluntly: “I don’t know.”
“I have to take a series of tests before I know, but I can’t drive right now. I’m not allowed to drive,” he continued. “And I can’t do performances because what the neurologist told me, every time you do a show, it’s like you’re getting a concussion.”
Pressed further about his condition and why performing takes such a toll, Joel elaborated: “Rock ‘n’ roll is loud, man. Rock ‘n’ roll made me deaf already. So it’s the lighting, the sound, the stress of the show, the audience, the energy of the performance. There’s a lot going on when you’re onstage. And they said, ‘Well, you really shouldn’t be doing that right now.’
“So they have to test me further to see if I can go back and do performing again, which I would like to be able to do,” he concluded.
The latest update comes weeks after Joel addressed fans on SiriusXM’s The Billy Joel Channel.
“I know people are worried about me because they read that I have a brain disorder, which sounds a lot worse than it actually is,” Joel said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
“I’m okay. My balance isn’t that good. Lost a little bit of my hearing, but that may have to do with my age, too, and the rock and roll life and the loud volume probably didn’t help. But I’m fine.”
He added: “I want people to not have to worry about me. I’m okay.”
Joel revealed in September that he underwent surgery for the brain disorder, which can cause problems with vision, hearing and balance.
After initially refusing to have a shunt implanted in his skull to remove the excess fluid caused by the disorder, Joel said he changed his mind after researching the ways that the procedure could help his symptoms.
“I didn’t want to do that, but then I read up on it and I realized it can help improve your balance and can help your memory,” Joel said on the radio show earlier in September. “You know, I don’t want to lose my marbles. It’s hard to tell what’s age and what’s a condition, so I agreed to do the shunt, and I had a surgery, and they implanted a shunt in my brain.”
He added that the surgery was a success, and that he had already noticed improvements in his brain function.
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