John Mayer’s Dad Facing ‘Medical Emergency’

John Mayer is caring for his father Richard after the 94-year-old suffered a “medical emergency” and was rushed to the emergency room. Mayer shared his family’s news just hours after Dead & Company, which the Grammy winner plays in with the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, announced the cancellation of Wednesday evening’s show in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Mayer addressed the cancellation on his Instagram Story. “This morning, my father suffered a medical emergency and was transported to the ER where he received much-needed and great care,” wrote the musician, 44. “He is now fairly stable and will continue to undergo some procedures, but as you can understand, I have to stay in NYC and can’t play tonight’s show in Saratoga Springs.”

Mayer has spoken throughout the years about how much of an inspiration his father has been throughout his life. “My dad was a piano player,” he told Andy Cohen in February 2021 of his father, who is a retired high school principal. “He would play at the Rotary club, and he would play off the page. He was a written music player and I was an improv, spacey … I didn’t know how to read music. I still don’t know if he quite gets how I’ve made it if I can’t read music.”

Mayer also established The Richard Mayer Scholarship Fund in honor of his father in 2017. In Bridgeport, Connecticut, where his dad worked throughout his career, students who plan to become educators or educational administrators can receive $20,000 over four years, according to the CT Insider.

“I’m proudly my dad’s son, both in our daring use of metaphor and hair-trigger emotional responses and in wanting to be teachers,” Mayer said at the time. “I have my dad’s desire to be a teacher ingrained in me, and as I become more mature, it’s emergent. As I get older, I develop more and more respect for academics. This is a nice cross-section of what my dad has done and what I’ve done in a way that I think honors the bloodline.”

Added Richard in his own statement, “I couldn’t have expected a better gift than this. I gave 42 years to the Bridgeport education system and they gave me a wonderful life. This is just a wonderful way to be remembered and be doing something positive. I can’t think of something more thoughtful.”