Even though he’s best known as a chart‑topping artist, Phil Vassar has always remained an athlete at heart. You can even argue that his athletic mindset and his work in the gym are major reasons why his heart continues beating today, and how he’s able to continue performing at a high level.
Sure, the physical grind of 100‑plus shows a year may have caught up with the 63‑year‑old—performing a two‑hour show on a set of artificial knees will wear down even the greatest champions of their craft. But for the award‑winning singer‑songwriter and former college decathlete, being three years removed from a stroke and heart attack that left him “dead” twice has now become the creative catalyst behind his drive to keep pushing for more opportunities.
He’s about to go on tour with Old Dominion, just part of what he hopes will be a significantly busier schedule as he looks to double what he considers an “off year” of touring in 2025—which featured 25 Years of Paradise Tour, that celebrated the 25th anniversary of his breakout No. 1 hit.
“We did about 40 shows last year,” he says. “I told my agent, ‘Let’s just double that this year.’ I’m kind of jonesing to get out there and get in front of people and play. Hopefully we’ll do at least 60 or 70 shows—that’s my groove.”
Two knee replacements in 2014 may have grounded the former James Madison track standout from performing his famous piano leaps on stage, but today’s version of Vassar is very much back and ready for a heavier workload. He’s regained the more than 50 pounds he lost during his health scare—which left him, in his words, “unrecognizable”—and has added some new material to go along with his country catalog of No. 1 songs he’ll once again be showcasing for his fans.
Over the past three years, Vassar has rebuilt his body through rehab and a renewed and refined commitment for the weight room. Even though he may not be able to leap pianos, he’s cleared enough health hurdles to regain his competitive edge, ready to burst out of the blocks and back onto the stage with the same enthusiasm he had as a 38‑year‑old in 2000—the year “Just Another Day in Paradise” reached No. 1.
He knows he’s lucky to be alive today, let alone having the physical ability to go on tour—doctors have referred to his recovery as a “miracle.” So this year’s American Heart Month hits differently as Vassar takes the stage this Saturday in Jackson, MS. It’s an important reminder the singer is eager to share with fans, and that perspective is expressed in his new song, “What It Means,” inspired by his “dying twice” in 2023.
“It’s autobiographical in that way,” he says. “I didn’t know that my arteries were clogged—I didn’t have any idea. But now it’s different.”
His forced slowdown also did something he never got from life on a tour bus: The downtime allowed Vassar to spend more time at home with his family, a reset he didn’t know he needed after decades of grinding on the road. These days, after clearing a series of health obstacles that nearly ended his life, Vassar has found the time to enjoy life at a slower pace than his days of leaping hurdles during his track‑star years.
“I think getting back out to nature and taking those long walks has changed everything,” he says. “I love doing that. It’s part of my everyday thing.”
The slowdown, however, isn’t a shutdown for Vassar. The athlete mentality that once pushed him through pain hasn’t disappeared, but his experience has allowed him to rewire his mindset into a smarter, purpose‑driven approach. His comeback began with slow, basic physical and cognitive work. Today, those walks are longer and the weights lifted are again heavier, but not extreme.
For an old‑school singer, Vassar has leaned hard on new‑age tech and recovery. In addition to tightening up his nutrition, he’s added infrared sauna sessions, ice‑cold pool plunges, and heavy use of a hyperbaric chamber, which he considers a game changer.
“I do eat well, but I don’t do anything stupid anymore,” he says. “I feel great. I’m working out again, and I’m kind of liking feeling sore again. That’s when you know you’re doing something right.”
Mark Maryanovich
Phil Vassar Ignored the Signs Before His Heart Attack
Vassar doesn’t remember the details of his Feb. 4, 2023, heart attack or the stroke that followed five days later—or what being dead twice felt like.
“I wish I could tell you,” he says. “Everybody goes, ‘Did you see anything? Did you talk to James Brown or see Elvis?’ But I don’t remember anything.”
In hindsight, the signs were there, even as he looked aesthetically shredded at 60. In the year leading up to both stroke and heart attack, Vassar said he felt exhausted, short of breath, while constantly battling relentless acid reflux. Instead of getting checked, he chose to dig deeper into his track‑and‑field mindset—working harder on his music, pushing harder onstage, and stacking more weight onto the bar, thinking that more effort would erase symptoms.
“I was about 210 and working out all the time—I was buffed out pretty good,” he says. “I kept working out harder and harder and thinking I could get through it if I kept working out—and then I died.”
Only afterward did doctors spell out a major cause: bad genetics. However, statistically, the extent of his health scare was so severe he should never have walked out of the hospital, let alone get back onto a stage.
“You should not be here. There’s no way you should’ve lived through this—you are in a percentage of under 1%,” Vassar recalled in 2024.
Mark Maryanovich
How Phil Vassar Trains Like an Athlete at 63—Without Breaking Down
Vassar says his return to exercise began slowly. Following both events, his rehab consisted of short walks and simple movements—like shooting a basketball. Both were exhausting at first.
Over time, those baby steps turned into a real training plan. Vassar says the ego lifting and heavy lifting—at one point during his high school and college career he was benching near 400 pounds—were gone. He trains like the athletic artist who still wants to stick the Steinway landing onstage—but realizes that longevity now is the objective. The former college track star has rebuilt his routine around joint‑friendly strength work and low‑impact cardio, to handle a heavier touring schedule without his body breaking down.
“Heck, man, it’s different training when you’re 30 and then you’re 60,” he says. “But today, I feel different.”
That reality check pushed him out of the “more is better” mindset and into a smarter, age‑proof routine. With two new knees and a new outlook, machines have taken over free weights.
“I love doing leg presses and stuff like that,” he says.
He’s retired from sprinting and jumping, but conditioning plays a heart-healthy role in his routine. “I can’t really run anymore, but I can walk and do that stuff, and I can do the bike. So I get on the Peloton a lot and just try to do better and better.”
How Recovery Tech—and 100 Hyperbaric Sessions—Cleared His Head
Outside the weightroom and recording studio, recovery tools have become a key part of the “Carlene” singer’s rehab.
“I do the infrared sauna. I’ll do ‘cold plunges’ in the pool,” he says. “I found that that stuff really helps me recover. It shocks your system.”
There was another symptom that went largely unnoticed before his heart attack: Phil Vassar needed rest. Whether at home or on the road, getting up in the middle of the night became routine, even if it was anything but normal.
“I couldn’t sleep, I slept maybe a couple hours a day,” he says. “I’d stay up all night. I was like a vampire, and I didn’t know what it was.”
Only later did he learn that clogged arteries were starving his brain of oxygen. The biggest solution, he believes, has been implementing hyperbaric oxygen therapy into his routine. He completed more than 100 sessions during his recovery and still uses it today.
“That stuff brought me back so much quicker, I think,” he says.
In hyperbaric oxygen therapy, you’re breathing pure oxygen while the air pressure is raised above normal in a small chamber that you lie in. That pressure forces far more oxygen into your bloodstream than you can normally get at sea level. This process is said to help speed tissue repair, reduce inflammation, and clear metabolic waste. Many elite athletes are now incorporating hyperbaric therapy into their regimens—including NBA legend LeBron James and Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps—and MLB clubs like the Philadelphia Phillies have begun rolling hospital‑grade units into their training facilities.
With his heart on the mend and his blood supersaturated with oxygen session after session, the constant fog and wired‑but‑exhausted feeling gradually lifted.
“I feel different,” he says now. “I feel I can breathe. My head’s clear.”
The Second Chance That Brought Phil Vassar Back Home
Through his brush with death came an unexpected benefit: time. The downtime let the constantly touring showman make up for moments he’d missed with his family.
“I missed so much time with them when I was on the road for 25 years,” he says. “I missed the birth of your child. I’d fly home for a day for a game or a dance competition, then I’d fly right back out. It was quite tumultuous for a while.”
The heart attack and stroke forced him to slow down, and in that stillness—his second chance—he realized how much normal life had been missing from his stage life.
“I have so much more patience now,” he says. “Finally, I can breathe, I can relax, and I can sit down and watch TV. I never was able to do that stuff. It’s a whole different feel, and I feel great.”
For a while during his road to recovery, his house became his rehab center—and the piano became his therapy for creating new music like “What It Means.”
“A lot of it was just sitting around, just playing piano,” he says. “I walk from room to room. I got different pianos in different rooms, and change it up a bit.”
That same patience now shapes how he’s approaching this next chapter on the road. Last year, his 25 Years of Paradise Tour was a major success. As he prepares to tour with Old Dominion in April, his goal is to add more shows than in 2025. This time, and going forward, his career won’t come at the expense of his health.
“I want to get back out and do the right things,” Vassar says. “I feel completely like a new person. I’m definitely grateful, and more in the moment than I was.”
