For one reason or another, 2018 saw a few musicians disappear off the radar.
Some took well-deserved hiatuses, others decided it was simply time to retire and a few were
tragically forced from the stage by illness or death.
These are the musicians who fell quiet in 2018.
Neil Diamond has enjoyed one of the longer careers in the history of music.
After getting his start as a songwriter in the '60s, he became a chest-baring pop and
soft rock superstar, creating classics of both genres such as "Cracklin' Rosie", "Sweet
Caroline", "Love on the Rocks" and "America”.
Although he hasn't had a top 40 hit in over 35 years, Diamond has such a beloved back
catalog of favorites that he was still a top touring act well into his 70s.
Sadly, 2018 saw him forced into retirement.
In January, two days before his 77th birthday, Diamond announced he'd been diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease.
The neurological condition had, according to a statement on his website, made it too
difficult to continue to travel and perform.
Luckily for us, Diamond did promise to keep writing and recording music.
"Amen, brothers."
Kenny Rogers has been around practically forever.
He began as a singer for The First Edition, who had a huge hit in 1967 with the psychedelic
"Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Was In)."
Rogers then went solo and became a superstar with a range of country hits that crossed
over to pop and soft rock radio in the '70s and early '80s.
Rogers turned 80 in 2018, which is a more than reasonable age to retire.
In late 2016, he told Billboard he'd wrap things up shortly, would no longer record,
and would stop performing live after one last tour.
He said:
"Every goal I've set, I've done that, and there's a point where you have to say, 'I've
had my turn.
Let someone else have it,' and that's kind of where I am."
Rogers added that what he really wants to do is spend more time with his family, particularly
his twin teenage boys.
Rogers canceled the last dates on "The Gambler's Last Deal" tour in April 2018, and he's been
quiet since.
Few musicians can touch Adele in terms of sheer popularity.
She's one of the top-selling artists of the 21st century, as all three of her albums,
19, 21, and 25 have all sold millions of copies each.
More people bought 25 than any other album released in 2015, but that Grammy-winning
album also marks the last time Adele put out a record.
She followed 25 with the Adele Live tour in 2016, which took her all around the world
well into 2017, but two shows of a final stand at London's Wembley [WEM-blee] Stadium had
to be canceled because the singer had damaged her vocal cords.
That's about the last time Adele made any major musical headlines.
The future looks brighter however, with the confirmation that her fourth album is in production,
and will drop in 2019 at the earliest.
A Tribe Called Quest are arguably one of the best hip-hop crews of all time and were a
pioneer of the Afrocentric and jazz-influenced "Native Tongues" movement.
Sadly, their current incarnation just wasn't long for this world.
In 2015, the group reunited to perform on The Tonight Show and enjoyed being back together
so much they decided to cut one last record.
They even arranged recording around Phife Dawg's schedule, since he was undergoing thrice-weekly
kidney dialysis treatments, but he sadly died in March 2016 from complications related to
Type II diabetes.
"After that we did a few shows, but I just couldn't, I couldn't move without him there."
Remaining members Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad finished the album We Got It From Here…
Thank You 4 Your Service and promoted it with a farewell tour of TV and festival appearances
in 2016 and 2017, including a blistering performance of anti-gentrification anthem "We the People…"
on the first post-presidential election episode of Saturday Night Live.
A headline slot at Bestival in the U.K. in September 2017 marked the last time A Tribe
Called Quest would perform live.
Green Day has been playing, recording, and releasing music so consistently for so long
that the punk-pop legends' sudden disappearance is more than a little conspicuous.
Between 1994 and 2016, Green Day released 10 studio albums and two live records, as
well as helped create the Broadway musical American Idiot.
Frankly, those guys were probably in need of a well-deserved break, and their absence
in 2018 shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise.
The band's last album was the 2017 compilation Greatest Hits: God's Favorite Band.
But they're not dead yet.
In the summer of 2018, drummer Tre Cool hinted on Instagram that his band was prepping a
2019 tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their first album, Dookie.
Billie Joe Armstrong also commented on an Instagram Live video in December 2018 that
he's still working on new music.
Here’s hoping.