The Southern Highlands resident underwent surgery on December 13 at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital to replace a valve damaged due to illness.

It comes a year after the singer underwent hip and back surgery forcing him to pull out of RHST dates planned for early 2023.

The 67-year-old has been recovering slowly and in good health, according to his social media posts by wife Jane, but the touring company announced this week he won't be well enough to belt out his best hits on January 6.

"Jon Stevens will be added ... performing a set of Noiseworks and INXS hits, together with The Living End, Birds of Tokyo, Pete Murray, Kasey Chambers & Sam + Sam," the tour promoter wrote in a statement.

"Closing the shows will be Jimmy's live band fronted by Mahalia Barnes & featuring Oz Rock royalty: Jon Stevens, Chris Cheney ... and his legendary Cold Chisel bandmate, Ian Moss, performing a very special set of songs by Cold Chisel and Jimmy Barnes, compiled by Jimmy himself.

"Despite all our efforts to reschedule the show in Batemans Bay (Saturday January 27), this event will not be going ahead due to the artists' availabilities."

Ticket holders for the Batemans Bay concert will be contacted directly by Ticketmaster and provided with a full refund.

Dates will also be affected at Mornington Racecourse (Victoria) and Mannum (South Australia), while RHST dates scheduled in February will be moved to April "to give Jimmy time to fully recover".

"It's been an eventful few weeks to say the least but one thing that's put a big smile on my face are the mates I have around me who have my back. Thank you so much to my dear friends Mossy, Jon and Chris who will be joining my wonderful, powerhouse of a daughter to perform special, unique shows for you in January with my live band,"

"I'm a lucky guy. I'm going to be working hard to get back to full strength over the next few months so I can get back on stage."

For more details, www.redhotsummertour.com.au.