Now that Conan O’Brien has a permanent job in Los Angeles and a brand spankin’ new show, longtime band leader Max Weinberg has decided not to follow him, causing loads of speculation. Now he has cleared it up.
“On Feb 8, I came to the end of a 26-year watchful, waiting odyssey that culminated in 12 hours of massively invasive open heart surgery,” Weinberg told fancast.com.
“I had valve repair. I found out about this 26 years ago and I knew about it and I monitored it,” he confides. “At the time, there was not much they could do and it wasn’t as serious as it became. As I got older, it got worse. Fortunately the protocols for dealing with it became much more advanced and I found a wonderful doctor in New York who specialises in repairing valves.”
Weinberg was the band leader of the Max Weinberg Seven on Late Night With Conan O’Brien for 17 years. When O’Brien was cancelled, Weinberg followed him to Los Angeles for a few months while he hosted The Tonight Show, but being a lifelong Jersey boy, he chose to remain at home with his family.
Conan’s new show “Conan” will premiere on TBS late November. The house band will be led by Jimmy Vivino, who played lead guitar in Weinberg’s version of the band.
Follow the author Tim Cashmere on Twitter.
