Tesla’s Frank Hannon recently had a conversation with Dr. Music where he was asked if he and his bandmates would ever consider getting a temporary replacement if singer Jeff Keith got sick and couldn’t play certain shows, replying:

“It’s kind of sacred ground with Tesla. We’ve already decided that when Jeff can’t sing, we won’t get a replacement. Historically, in the 40 years that we’ve been doing Tesla, we probably can count on one or two hands at the most how many shows we’ve had to cancel due to him being sick. For years we prided ourselves in never canceling a show.

”There’s only been a few, and rightfully so, ’cause he just could not do it. And bless his heart, he tried, but when the human voice gets sick, you just can’t do it. There’s been a rare occasion maybe where I’ve covered and would sing to get through the show, but no, not really. I mean, I can pull off some songs that I do on my own, but when it comes to a Tesla show, Jeff Keith is the singer.

“There’s been a few times where we’ve had to cancel. But we try not to, and we’ve tried not to for many years. And I think Jeff Keith deserves a lot of credit for still singing and doing what he’s doing at his age.

“I love doing the shows with Jeff, and he and I sing a lot together in the show,” Frank explained. “I’ve learned a lot from Jeff Keith on phrasing and harmony, and he and I sing harmonies in the show a lot. And when I do my solo shows, I love singing his lyrics, like I’ll sing ‘What You Give’, ’cause he wrote that from his heart and I wrote it from my heart with him and I can feel every word he sings on that.

”So there’s a few songs that I will attempt to do now and then, ‘Love Song’, ‘What You Give’, the songs that I wrote the music for. But when it comes to doing a Tesla show, it’s all about Jeff Keith.”