Mick Jagger's 2019 Heart Valve Surgery: How a 75-Year-Old Rocker Got Back Onstage in Three Months

In early April 2019, the Rolling Stones announced they were postponing their No Filter tour because Mick Jagger needed “medical treatment.” A few days later, the band confirmed Jagger had undergone a heart valve replacement at a New York hospital. The exact procedure wasn’t officially named, but surgeons and cardiologists widely assumed it was a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) — a minimally invasive technique where a new valve is threaded through an artery, rather than opening the chest. TAVR typically requires only a few days in the hospital, with recovery measured in weeks, not months.

Jagger turned 76 in July 2019. By late June, he was already performing at a pre-tour rehearsal show at the Apollo Theater in New York. The postponed tour kicked off on July 8, 2019, in Chicago — exactly three months after news of his surgery broke. That’s an unusually fast turnaround for open-heart surgery, which suggests the minimally invasive route. Jagger later said he felt “great” and credited modern medicine, adding that he kept up his dancing and running throughout recovery. The band has been touring steadily ever since, with no reported heart issues.