Legendary musician Paul Simon has announced he is exiting the stage as far as touring is concerned.

Tickets for Simon’s farewell tour, dubbed “Homeward Bound: The Farewell Tour,” are on sale today. The tour is scheduled to end on July 15 with a concert featuring such guests as James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt in Vancouver, Canada.

The “Sound of Silence” singer said touring has taken a toll on his life and detracted from time he could be spending with his family.

“I feel the travel and time away from my wife and family takes a toll that detracts from the joy of playing,” he wrote on Twitter to his fans.

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He also cited the December death of his lead guitarist, Vincent N’guini, as a reason for losing interest in the stage.

Simon said, though, that he does still expect to take on the occasional music gig.

“After this coming tour, I anticipate doing the occasional performance in a (hopefully) acoustically pristine hall, and to donate those earnings to various philanthropic organizations, particularly those whose objective is to save the planet, ecologically,” he wrote.

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Simon, now 76, is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, as both a solo artist and a member of Simon & Garfunkel.

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Simon closed out his retirement announcement by saying, “I am very grateful for a fulfilling career and, of course, most of all to the audiences who heard something in my music that touched their hearts.”

Simon’s announcement comes on the heels of Elton John’s announcement to fans that he’s going to cease touring for similar reasons. However, John’s farewell tour will last a whopping three years compared to only the handful of months Simon fans have left to enjoy this icon’s work.

PopZette editor Zachary Leeman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter

(photo credit, article image: Paul Simon, CC BY-SA 3.0, by Matteo Menetti)