BBC Radio 2 star Michael Ball opens up on his latest health battle, the tragic loss of his mum and ending his association with the show that made him famous – as he says ‘I’m done’
07:00, 28 Mar 2026Updated 07:47, 28 Mar 2026
Michael Ball(Image: bbcradio2/Instagram)
There’s something in the old theatre adage that the show must go on. And when Michael Ball was told he needed an urgent hip replacement, he ignored the advice and insisted on continuing with his production, crutches and all. Now, a year on and showing he is nothing but a trouper, the West End star will be back on stage – with a brand-new left hip – for a UK tour to celebrate the release of his album, Glow.
Michael had suffered pain for three years but things came to a head during an eight-week tour of Les Misérables in Australia last year. The singer recalls: “I went for physio and it wasn’t getting any better. I had a cortisone injection, which helped, but after two days I was in agony and really limping.
“They took me for an MRI scan and the doctor said the ligament was completely ruptured and severed ,and I’d got bone-on- bone on the joint and that my hip had to be replaced. He said, ‘You must be in a really severe amount of pain’. I went, ‘Well, it’s nice to know I’m not just being a drama queen!’” The doctor advised Michael to fly back to England for surgery but he refused.
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Michael had suffered pain for three years but things came to a head during an eight-week tour of Les Misérables in Australia
“I didn’t want to let people down,” he explains. “I decided I was just going to crack on with painkillers and try to get to the end of the tour. I had to have a crutch to get me to the side of the stage and I used the pain for my character. They cut the bits where I had to go up and down a barricade. I just got my head down and ploughed through it, but it was soul-destroying. I couldn’t enjoy anything really.”
When the tour ended, Michael returned home and had a full hip replacement.
“It was an utter game-changer,” he says. “You realise that you’ve been in chronic pain, getting worse for three years.”
Michael, 63, who combines his singing and musical theatre career with hosting the popular Love Songs show on Radio 2, says needing surgery has prompted an overhaul of his life.
He reveals: “I’m going to the gym, oh, at least once every week. I’m not wholeheartedly throwing myself into this. It’s gradual, I’m dipping my toe in. But I’m out every day, I do long walks with the dogs and I’m eating more healthily.”
He has always been someone who likes to see the positive side of life(Image: James Hole 2018)
Frank and warm and with a self-deprecating sense of humour, Michael has always been someone who likes to see the positive side of life – and this enthusiasm and drive may have helped to propel him to the top in the notoriously unstable world of showbiz.
“The thing is, I’ve never been cool,” he muses. “I’ve never been trendy or the in-thing. I’ve always just got on and done what I’ve done and it’s appealed to some people and some people can’t stick it. But if you’re never in fashion, you’re never out of fashion. I’ve just kept going and the diversification has helped.”
Michael is certainly one of Britain’s most prolific entertainers. He has starred in a host of West End productions, from Les Misérables to Andrew Lloyd Webber shows such as Aspects of Love, alongside Ann Crumb.
He achieved a No1 single with a duet of You’ll Never Walk Alone alongside Second World War veteran Captain Sir Tom Moore, represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest and has been on Radio 2 for the past 16 years.
More recently he also turned his hand to writing, producing two best-selling novels.
And next up is Glow, his 23rd solo studio album. It is his first-ever album of entirely self-written material. So why has he waited so long to write his own songs?
“I wondered that as well,” he admits. “I think it was confidence and not understanding the art of writing. I don’t read music, I don’t write music, I don’t play an instrument, I’ve only got my brain and my mouth.”
He met his partner, former Ready Steady Go! presenter Cathy McGowan, 37 years ago(Image: Getty Images Europe)
The album’s first single is Vintage, a catchy tribute to the joys of growing older. He explains: “We’ve got to keep challenging ourselves, we’ve got to keep finding new things to be excited about. And we also need to know when to stop, when something has had its time, which has happened this year.”
He is referring to his decision to call an end to his 40-year association with the big hit Les Misérables.
Michael first found fame when Cameron Mackintosh cast him as Marius in the original London cast in 1985. He reprised the role in 1995 and in 2019 and 2020 he returned as Inspector Javert.
But after last year’s Australia tour, he turned down the opportunity to go to New York for a three-week run. He says: “I went, ‘no, I’m done. It feels right that I stop on this. Let’s not over-egg the pudding’.
“So that’s me and Les Mis finished. It’s the end of an era. It’s a pretty big decision, but it feels right. For me it was time.”
That new album contains some of Michael’s most personal songs yet, including Remember to Remember, a poignant tribute to his 91-year-old father Tony and his mum Ruth, who died last year at the same age.
“It was profound and rather beautiful,” Michael says. “She was fully compos mentis – it was her heart. I stayed in the hospital with her and slept there and was with her the whole time. I was holding her hand to the very end and we talked and talked until she just drifted away.
“It sounds weird, but it was the perfect ending. It wasn’t a tragedy. It was sad, but if you are going to go, that’s the way to do it.”
Michael has also enjoyed touring and recording with opera singer Alfie Boe(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Michael lives in South London with his partner, former Ready Steady Go! presenter Cathy McGowan. The pair met when she was a TV reporter and interviewed him for Aspects Of Love.
“It’s 37 years since we met, but I always say 35 is when it became proper,” he smiles. “I’m so immensely proud of my family. I know how lucky I am.
“I’m in a really good place in my 60s. I love that I still have this opportunity, that my voice works and that I can still haul myself up on the stage with a new hip.”
For the past decade, Michael has also enjoyed touring and recording with opera singer Alfie Boe. But he reveals that the partnership is now on hold, as next year he will be appearing in the West End.
With or without Alfie, one thing Michael can still count on is screaming fans. “I mean probably more out of pity than lust!” he laughs. “I always sing The Wonder of You and play it up to the hilt. So, there’s always someone I’ll pick on in the front row – ‘Your kiss to me is worth a fortune’ and we’ll have a kiss. It’s brilliant fun.
“The trouble is, the stages now are quite high and so I’ve got to get right down and try to look elegant and my legs aren’t what they were!”Michael’s new album, Glow, is out on May 22. New single Vintage is out now and his UK tour starts in August. For tickets, visit michaelball.co.uk
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