Stephen Bishop, the Grammy- and Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter who was born at San Diego’s Balboa Naval Hospital, has announced a farewell tour that will bring him home for a concert at the Balboa Theatre on August 21, 2027. The 74-year-old musician, best known for hits like “On and On” and “Separate Lives,” had been away from touring in recent years before confirming he’s coming out of retirement one more time.
Bishop made the announcement Friday to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his 1976 debut album, Careless, according to a release from Shore Fire. The tour kicks off March 13, 2027, with a sold-out show at Phoenix’s Musical Instrument Museum, the release states, before the U.S. run wraps with that hometown stop at the historic Balboa Theatre. Singer-songwriter David Wilcox will open every date on the tour, according to Bishop’s official tour page, and Bishop will be backed by what his site describes as an all-star band.
A Career Bookended By Careless
Fans can expect a set list pulling from across Bishop’s catalog. The tour page promises songs from Careless alongside “beloved hits including On and On, Save It for a Rainy Day, Separate Lives, and It Might Be You,” per the same site. Careless, which Bishop originally released through Universal Music Group, included the Billboard Hot 100 hit “On and On” and featured guest contributions from Eric Clapton, Chaka Khan and Art Garfunkel, according to the Shore Fire announcement — a lineup also referenced in an earlier Shore Fire release tied to a GRAMMY Museum celebration of the album. Clapton is a longtime friend and collaborator of Bishop’s, the seed reporting notes.
To mark the milestone, Bishop is releasing a limited vinyl-only 50th anniversary edition of Careless through Life’s A Bish Records, under license from Universal Music Group, the Shore Fire announcement states. That reissue includes two new bonus tracks alongside the original recordings. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the farewell tour will span 14 cities overall. Shore Fire says more U.S. shows will be announced.
Why Now, After Years Away
Bishop had not toured since before the 2020 pandemic shutdown, according to the Union-Tribune’s reporting, and has experienced health issues in the years since. In his 2022 memoir, Bishop wrote that he underwent nearly a dozen health travails beginning in March 2020, a period the San Diego Union-Tribune described as including 10 hospitalizations over nearly two years…