Credit: Harpic Bryant

Credit: Harpic BryantMott the Hoople frontman and solo star Ian Hunter turns 80 today. The singer/songwriter, who mounted U.S. and U.K. reunion tours with a 1974 Mott the Hoople lineup in April and remains a busy solo artist, says he feels good about reaching the milestone age.

“I think 80’s great,” he tells ABC Radio. “Seventy-nine…sounds so dismal. But 80 sounds fresh, sounds clean…sounds nice.”

Hunter gives some credit for his good health to his wife, noting, “Maybe I married the right woman or something…I mean, she feeds me properly and all the rest of it.”

He also cites his aversion to certain hard drugs as a factor.

“I was never a junkie…Most people were in my game,” he points out, adding, “My dad was a copper. You weren’t supposed to do that kind of thing.”

Hunter also says he stays fit by “gerbilizing,” his term for running.

Hunter and his solo group, The Rant Band, are celebrating his 80th birthday with a four-night stand at New York’s City Winery that began Friday and winds down tonight.

Ian was nearly 30 when he joined Mott the Hoople. The band is best-known for “All the Young Dudes,” a song that David Bowie wrote especially for the group, which peaked at #37 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. In the band’s native U.K., the tune reached #3 and was followed by such other hits as “Honaloochie Boogie,” “All the Way from Memphis” and “Roll Away the Stone.”

Hunter launched a solo career in 1975 that’s yielded such memorable songs as “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” “Cleveland Rocks” and “All of the Good Ones Are Taken.”

Ian’s latest album, Fingers Crossed, was released in 2016, and he tells ABC Radio he’s amassing songs now for his next record.

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