Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage
After a brief parting of ways, Zak Starkey is back inthe Who.
“He’s not being asked to step down from the Who,” Townshendwrote in a statementon Saturday.
Soon after that previous announcement,Starkey toldEntertainment Weeklythat he’d experienced a health scare.
Zak Starkey and Roger Daltrey of the Who at the 2022 New Orlenas Jazz & Heritage festival.Credit:Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage
All I’ve got is drums going boom, boom, boom.
I can’t sing to that.
I’m sorry, guys."
The Who’s Simon Townshend, John Button, Roger Daltrey, Zak Starkey, and Pete Townshend perform in Berlin in 2023.Frank Hoensch/Redferns
In his statement on Saturday, Townshend asked that Starkey adjust his playing.
“I take responsibility for some of the confusion.
Our TCT shows at the Royal Albert Hall were a little tricky for me.
(Why did I ever think I could land on my knees?)
The sound in the center of the stage is always the most difficult to work with.
Roger did nothing wrong but fiddle with his in-ear monitors.
The Who’s Simon Townshend, John Button, Roger Daltrey, Zak Starkey, and Pete Townshend perform in Berlin in 2023.Frank Hoensch/Redferns
Zak made a few mistakes and he has apologized.
Albeit with a rubber duck drummer.”
“It’s over,” he wrote.
“We move forward now with optimism and fire in our bellies.”
“I owe Scott an apology for not crushing that rumor before it spread,” he wrote.
“He has been hurt by this.
I promise to buy him a very long drink and give him a hug.”
The Who’s original drummer, Keith Moon, died at age 32 in 1978.
He was replaced by Kenney Jones before Starkey joined the band’s touring lineup in 1996.
Starkey contributed to their studio albumsEndless Wirein 2006 andWhoin 2019.
