Former MTV VJ and modern music aficionado Matt Pinfield announced this week that he overcame the odds by surviving a stroke he suffered in January and is currently on the mend.
“Guys, I’m alive,” he told the Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.
The 63-year-old rocker said he’s been released from the ICU and plans to be back to his old self after recovering at a Los Angeles rehabilitation center.
“Friends were thinking they were coming to see me for the last time,” he said. “The doctors never expected me to speak or to walk again.”
The East Brunswick, N.J. native attended Rutgers University and learned his craft while as an on-air host for the school’s official station, WRSU-FM. He went on to work for a Jersey Shore alternative rock station and as a DJ in the New York area club scene before teaming up with MTV in 1995 to host “120 Minutes.”
Along with appearances on a number of other MTV shows, he showcased his vast musical knowledge on the “TRL” segment “Stump Matt.”
Pinfield, who was unresponsive for nearly two months at the start 2025 and kept alive by a ventilator, said his friends knew he was on the mend when he awoke quoting lines from the 1967 Procol Harum song “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”
Pinfield plans on leaving rehab by the end of the month, but admits he’s “definitely going to take some time” before completely regaining form. Once his recovery is complete, he hopes to make a return to radio.
On the same day as his stroke, Pinfield posted his most recent message on social media.
“Starting another week with gratitude for a life surrounded by great people, life-changing music, and unforgettable experiences that I never take for granted,” he wrote on Jan. 6. “Here[s] to another week, another day, open heart and open mind. Let’s rock!”
