Motley Crue lead singer Vince Neil said he suffered a stroke the day after Christmas, an event that led to the postponement of the band’s Las Vegas residency, which began Friday.
“I had to learn to walk again, and that was tough,” Neil told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The doctors said they didn’t think I’d be able to go back on stage again. I said, ‘No, no, I’m gonna do it. Watch and see.’” Motley Crue opened its 10-show residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM on Friday. Neil said he felt fine when he went to bed on Christmas night but woke up unable to get out of bed the next morning. “My whole left side went out,” Neil said. The band canceled the first part of the residency to allow Neil time to recover.
The residency was originally scheduled to run March 28 through April 19. The band announced the postponement in early March, citing “a required medical procedure recently advised by vocalist Vince Neil’s doctors.” Neil said he spent several months undergoing physical therapy at his home in Nashville, Tennessee. “I went from people carrying me to the bathroom, because I couldn’t walk myself, finally to a wheelchair,” Neil said. “I graduated to a walker, and then I had a cane. Now I don’t need anything. But it’s like a full-time job getting back to where you feel good again.”
Neil said he did not lose his voice as a result of the stroke but had to work to rebuild the connection between his mind and muscles. He credited agility drills prescribed by a Nashville football coach and frequent running with helping him recover. “It’s been tough, but I’m back,” Neil said. “I’m 90, 95 percent to where I was before, and it’s going to be great.”
Neil returned to the stage in early August for several solo performances. Motley Crue’s most recent show was Oct. 13 at the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, California.
