Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Status Quo legend Francis Rossi reveals gruelling fitness regime ahead of Aberdeen show

Status Quo are set to headline P&J Live in Aberdeen. Photo by Rick Van Gerven
Status Quo are set to headline P&J Live in Aberdeen. Photo by Rick Van Gerven

Swimming, chin ups, bicep curls and crunches. Status Quo legend Francis Rossi has revealed his gruelling daily fitness regime to get fighting fit to perform in Aberdeen.

At 73 years old the evergreen singer and guitarist is showing no signs of slowing down ahead of Quo’s headline show at P&J Live on Friday November 25.

That longevity is no fluke. Gone are the rock n’ roll excesses in favour of a rigid fitness routine.

As we talk ahead of the Granite City show Francis is feeling a pang of guilt for not meeting his minimum daily length quota at his home swimming pool.

He’ll make up for it the next day as he admits: “It’s so easy to give in to yourself. I can’t do that.”

Which is why the singer will be at the top of his game when fronting the rock icons in Aberdeen.

Francis Rossi of Status Quo has a strict fitness regime. Supplied by Chris Hewlitt

Francis said: “This (fronting Status Quo) is a physical gig. During lockdown I started swimming as I have a pool at home. I started doing bicep curls,  crunches and chin ups.

“However, I wrenched too hard and did something to my right shoulder which I was having treatment for. My right bicep also only has one tendon linked to it so the second bicep doesn’t work.

“My left bicep is normal and the right looks like a golf ball. It means I can’t lift right with that arm. Old people stuff,” he laughs.

Envious of ‘uncle’ Mick Jagger

Status Quo headline P&J Live as part of their Out Out Quoing tour with support from 80s chart legend Shakin’ Stevens.

The band have racked up worldwide record sales in excess of 118 million and registered more hit singles than any band in UK chart history.

Status Quo were famously the first act on stage at Live Aid.

When Francis picks up the phone to me he is singing Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? to me.

‘Feed the World, Let them know it’s Christmas time’. “Oh sorry”, he laughed.  “Lost track of time there.”

It is not only his body that remains sharp. His razor sense of humour is intact.

Status Quo will play Aberdeen at P&J LIve. Photo by Tina Korhonen

He said: “I am very envious of uncle Mick Jagger as he is probably the fittest person in showbusiness.

“He really does it as a strict regime and will not falter from it.

“All credit to him. I am envious of him in that respect as he is so fit.”

‘I feel fit again lung wise, leg wise’

The need to retain a high level of fitness was underlined for Francis during the coronavirus lockdown.

It was the longest time since forming the band in 1962 he had been away from performing live.

When Status Quo returned to the stage this February it was the first time they had performed since the Radio 2 Festival in a Day at Hyde Park, London in front of 65,000 fans.

Following that, the largely sold-out Backbone Winter Tour of 2020 was cancelled in its entirety due to Covid-19.

Status Quo singer Francis is 73 but showing no signs of slowing down. Photo by Tina Korhonen

Francis said: “I started painting sheds, finding rooms in the house to decorate like I did when I was first married. There was no pressure. Other than we weren’t earning money but there was nothing I could do about it.

“The tricky thing was coming back as we had never been off for more than two or three months before that. This time we had been off for three years.

“We managed to get two or three weeks rehearsal in. Then on the left-hand index finger at the side a big bump comes up. And the shoulder hurts. I never realised that before is where the strap sits. The breathing is different. It suddenly came home to me how physical it is.”

The joy of playing live in Scotland

Francis is relishing a return to Aberdeen as Scottish audiences have embraced Status Quo since the band’s early years.

He is also a fan of P&J Live.

Singer Francis Rossi performing live with Status Quo. Photo by Rick Van Gerven

He said: “The new P&J Live has lovely catering and nice dressing rooms. The old place (Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre) was really a shed where they had caravans for dressing rooms and beside that an open area for catering.

“I remember Travis came to see us there and were introduced to us. They were very nice people. There’s another bloke called Francis (Fran Healy, Travis singer) in the business but he’s not brave enough to go the full name, he only goes by Fran.

“We have been really lucky since we were very young that the Scottish took to us.

“They say if a Scot likes you great, but if they don’t get out the way. That’s fair enough. You know where you stand.

“It’s always a joy for being in Scotland as the audience are so warm and welcoming.”

For information and tickets for Status Quo and Shakin’ Stevens at P&J Live go to pandjlive.com


You might also like…

Conversation