80s rock singer Kip Winger has revealed he’s suffered from vocal-cord paralysis. The revelation comes amid confusion concerning the retirement status of his band, Winger.
During an October 2026 episode of SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, Kip Winger opened up about his band playing shows this year, even after announcing their retirement in 2025. Their final gig was originally an August 2025 show at the Rainbow Bar & Grill Backyard Bash in West Hollywood, California. According to the singer, it was necessarily a planned hiatus, but there had been talk of slowing down.
“We toured a lot for the last five years,” Kip said, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “I was wanting more time to focus on the other writing I’m doing. I had a lot of trouble with my voice.” He then shared his medical diagnosis: “I’ve got this paralysis in my vocal cord, so it’s very difficult to get my voice up and running, but I can do it.”
Kip Winger revealed that he has been dealing with vocal cord paralysis
Kip then brought up that Rainbow Bar gig from 2025. He sincerely thought it would be his final show for a while. “I was telling everybody, like, ‘This is gonna be my last show for a while, because I’m doing other s**t.’ And f**k if Marq Torien [of ’80s rock band the BulletBoys] didn’t go out there and go, ‘This is Kip’s retirement gig.’”
“He said it the whole set,” Kip added. “So that’s how it got spread. I never announced it, but I was thinking we were gonna go from 35, 40 shows a year down to, like, six or seven, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Speaking about Winger’s 2026 gigs, Kip confirmed that they haven’t played too many. He noted that the gig they were at—The Sands.rocks music festival in Cancún, Mexico—was nearly the end of the line.
“Ten, maybe. Twelve,” he said, counting the band’s 2026 concerts. “This is our last show of the year. No — we’re going to Chicago and Detroit in two days. And that’s our last show. And then the first show of next year will be the [Monsters Of Rock] cruise. And then we’re getting some offers and stuff, which is weird, because I told my agent — I quoted a number that I thought was so high we’d never get it, and we’re getting it.”
Photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images
The post 80s Rock Singer Reveals Vocal Cord Paralysis As He Explains Band’s Retirement Confusion appeared first on VICE.
