EXCLUSIVE: Rod Stewart Retiring After 'Desperate Pleas to Quit From Wife Penny Lancaster'

Rod Stewart is said to have announced his retirement from touring after increasingly desperate pleas from wife Penny Lancaster and his family to finally call time on life on the road following his recent heart scare.

RadarOnline.com can reveal the 81-year-old rocker confirmed on Monday, September 28 next year's Final Encore Tour will be his last after more than six decades of performing.

The decision comes just weeks after Stewart underwent a coronary stent procedure for a previously unknown heart issue, forcing him to cancel the remainder of his US tour and spend four weeks away from the stage.

A source close to the family exclusively told us: "Penny has been desperately pleading with Rod to slow down and seriously consider giving up touring. She knows performing is his life, but after everything that's happened, there comes a point where your health and your family have to take priority.

"Rod has always been incredibly reluctant to even contemplate retirement. Penny and the family have watched him battle through illnesses, cancellations and exhaustion because his instinct is always to get back on stage.

"The heart problem really brought everything into focus. Penny wasn't trying to take music away from him – she wanted him to recognize that constantly pushing himself through these huge tours couldn't continue forever."

Lancaster, 55, recently revealed the couple had been unaware Stewart had an underlying heart problem before doctors discovered a blockage.

Speaking on British presenter Vanessa Feltz's YouTube show At Home With Vanessa, Lancaster said: "He's great. He's really good. He'd gone through a couple of incidents where he had an upper respiratory infection.

"And then he was at a concert where there was very high altitude, so it would affect anybody. But what we didn't know was there was an underlying heart issue."

Lancaster added doctors discovered Stewart was suffering a "slight blockage" requiring a stent, despite her husband's remarkable fitness.

She added: "I mean, he's like one of the fittest guys I know. Forget being fit for 80-odd. He's fit for someone my age in their 50s.

"But fortunately, it was at the right time, at the right place and they detected a slight blockage which needed a stent."

Stewart had already suffered several health setbacks.

He canceled Las Vegas performances in May while recovering from a sinus infection and pulled out of a San Diego concert in June after a respiratory infection caused laryngitis.

During a Utah performance that month, Stewart told the audience he had almost fainted and had used an oxygen tank before continuing from a chair.

Lancaster, who married Stewart in 2007 and shares sons Alastair, 20, and Aiden, 15, with him, has described how physically demanding his shows remain.

She said: "Every four or five songs, he's dripping wet. He runs off stage, quick change, back up. He doesn't stop."

Lancaster also revealed Stewart is now being closely watched by his family, trainer and doctors.

Asked whether they were making him take things easier, she said: "We are collectively.

"There's a team of us now between me and my brother and his trainer and doctors and everyone. We're not letting him get away with it. He has to do as he's told."

Announcing his retirement, Stewart told fans in an Instagram video: "After much deliberation and sadness, I have to announce that next year will be my last tour forever ever. This will be the last rock and roll tour.

"So I want to thank you for everything you have given me, and hopefully I've given you something in return."

The Final Encore Tour begins in Ireland in April and ends in Germany on July 24, with dates including Manchester, London, Berlin and Prague.