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Paul Simon

Simon has hinted for some time that the end of the road might be close before making the official announcement, telling in 2016: “Showbiz doesn’t hold any interest for me.” But it wasn’t until February 5 that he confirmed it.

“I’ve often wondered what it would feel like to reach the point where I’d consider bringing my performing career to a natural end,” Simon wrote in . “Now I know: it feels a little unsettling, a touch exhilarating, and something of a relief.” He explained that the time away from his family was taking a toll, but that he hoped to do “the occasional performance in a (hopefully) acoustically pristine hall, and to donate those earnings to various philanthropic organizations, particularly those whose objective is to save the planet.”

Simon’s last show is set for July 15 at Hyde Park in London.

Elton John

John announced his retirement from touring on January 24th in an interview with , explaining that he wants to spend more time with his two children. But the decision isn’t effective immediately—he’s embarking on a three-year, 300-gig tour beginning in September of 2018, by which point it’s fair to say he will have earned a break.

“By the time the tour finishes I’ll be 74, and there’ll be so much more for me to do creatively, but it won’t be touring,” he said. “David [his husband] and I sat down with a school schedule, and I thought, I don’t want to miss too much of this… When I stop, they’re going to be 10 and 8, and that’s a very important time of their lives. I see them a lot anyway. But I love them so much. I don’t want to miss them and I don’t want them to miss me.”

But John is not retiring from making records—he expects to make “a couple more albums”—and didn’t rule out future concert performances. “I would imagine it would be something like a residency, like Kate Bush did at the Hammersmith Apollo; she did three weeks. I don’t want to travel."

Neil Diamond

Diamond on January 22, following his diagnosis with Parkinson’s Disease. In a statement, Diamond said that he plans to keep for as long as his health allows. “It is with great reluctance and disappointment that I announce my retirement from concert touring,” he said. “I have been so honored to bring my shows to the public for the past 50 years.”

The last stage of Diamond’s world tour—in Australia and New Zealand—was set to begin in March, but that leg has been cancelled. His last public performance was on Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve.

Aretha Franklin

Franklin will play her last concerts in 2018, she confirmed in an interview last year. “I will be recording, but this will be my last year in concert,” she told Detroit’s . ““I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now. I’ll be pretty much satisfied, but I’m not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn’t be good either.”

Franklin’s last concert is currently scheduled for June 2 in Boston. But as part of , she has expressed interest in opening a nightclub in downtown Detroit, and has noted that she would perform there should that dream come to pass.

Lynyrd Skynrd

The band will retire from touring after one last run of concerts, they announced in January. “It’s hard to imagine, after all these years, the band that Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins and myself started back in Jacksonville, would resonate for this long and to so many generations of fans,” guitarist Gary Rossington . “I’m certain they are looking down from above, amazed that the music has touched so many.”

“The Last of the Street Survivors Farewell Tour” will kick off on May 4 in West Palm Beach, Florida, and will conclude on September 1 in Atlanta, Georgia.