'80s Rock Icon Gets Honest About Retiring After 45 Years: 'I'm Loving It to Death'
- - '80s Rock Icon Gets Honest About Retiring After 45 Years: 'I'm Loving It to Death'
Isabella TorregianiDecember 19, 2025 at 3:52 AM
0
John Atashian/Getty Images
Steve Whiteman is finally enjoying life off the road. On a recent episode of “Steve And Rik’s POTcast,” the KIX frontman got candid about why the legendary rock band decided to retire in 2023 — and why knowing when to stop became one of the most important decisions of his career.
After more than 45 years in the music industry, Whiteman says retirement is the best decision he could have made.
"I'm loving it to death,” the rockstar explained. “I was so ready to get off the road, I was so ready to stop performing, 'cause my talent level had gone down, my mobility had gone down. I thought I left a hell of a legacy, and I wanted to go out where people would remember me being good and not some used up rock star."
KIX played its final show in September 2023 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, just miles from where the band formed in Hagerstown in 1977.
The farewell concert, announced months earlier, included a special setlist and appearances by former guitarists Ronnie Younkins and Brad Divens.
Speaking on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk in August 2023, Whiteman opened up about KIX’s decision to step away.
"I've been doing this since I was, like, 13 years old, and I'm sick of all the travel and all the B.S. and the only thing I really enjoy is getting on stage,” he reflected. “And to be honest, I'm not as good as I used to be, and I know that, and I don't wanna go out sucking; I wanna go out being pretty good. But age takes its toll."
Whiteman also acknowledged that he wasn’t able to perform KIX’s songs the way he once had during the band’s earlier years. “My voice, I used to… I never had a break,” he said.
"I had a four-octave range and I never struggled hitting anything. I've had to pretty much totally change the way I sing … I don't wanna say 'fake' things, but change things so the fans really wouldn't know that I'm not singing like I used to.”
Over time, those vocal challenges became harder to ignore, especially onstage. “And there are nights, out of the past couple of years, where I've come off stage just humiliated because I can't sing 'Don't Close Your Eyes' like I used to, or I can't sing 'Cold Blood', and these are the songs that the fans are out there waiting for,” he recalled.
“And that's when I started to think I don't wanna do this if I can't do it well anymore."
In May 2023, Whiteman spoke with Metal Edge about a pivotal moment in KIX’s final years. When Jimmy Chalfant collapsed onstage from a cardiac arrest, it pushed Whiteman toward retirement.
"That put a whole new perspective on things. It was the sort of thing that got me thinking, 'How much longer do we want to do this?' And if I'm being honest, I was ready to give up and go home then and there. But everybody rallied and pushed me to keep going and finish the dates we had booked,” he said.
Founded in 1977, KIX released their self-titled debut on Atlantic Records. More than a decade later, they hit it big with 1988’s Blow My Fuse, selling nearly a million copies thanks to the fan favorite “Don’t Close Your Eyes.”
After a nearly two-decade hiatus from the studio, KIX returned in 2014 with Rock Your Face Off, their seventh album and first since 1995. It debuted at No. 1 on Amazon’s Hard Rock and Metal chart, reached the Billboard 200 Top 50 and hit No. 5 on the Independent Albums chart.
This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 19, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
