Rod Stewart Is the Latest Sicknote Star

Rocker Rod Stewart cancelled a performance on U.S. TV on Tuesday (27Oct09), after a viral infection he caught from his three-year-old son Alastair robbed him of his voice.

The Maggie May star was due to showcase tracks from his new covers album Soulbook on Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Walters' talk show The View.

After coming down with the illness overnight, Stewart recorded a special message to apologise to fans and the show's hosts.

He said, "Viewers and ladies, I woke up this morning to do a vocal warm up and there was no voice. It's just one of those things. It's a viral thing that's going around at the moment."

The former Faces star is just the latest rock icon to fall ill; Morrissey was hospitalised during a performance in England at the weekend (24-25Oct09) and his old friend Sir Elton John is currently laid low with a bout of influenza.