Burton Cummings qualifies one point. The Bachman-Cummings gig at the NAC on Monday is officially not a Guess Who show.

Cummings' former bandmates -- Garry Peterson and Jim Kale -- own the rights to the band name, so legally, Bachman and Cummings, who wrote 90% of The Guess Who's songs, can't call themselves that.

At this point in their long and respected careers, they don't really care.

"There are dozens of bands calling themselves The Guess Who, but anyone who knows the band know that we're the real thing."

And to make sure they sound much the way they did in their early 1970s heyday, Cummings performs vocal exercises each day. That, along with the decision last year to quit smoking, has him singing better now than at any point in the past 20 years, he says.

"Like a runner, I use muscles that people who don't sing never know exist," says the 62-year-old singer and songwriter from his home in Vancouver.

"I have to keep them in shape. So I sing to whatever's on the radio."

Meanwhile, Bachman recently underwent surgery to repair four ripped tendons in his right shoulder.

"After carrying a 30 lb. guitar for 40 years, it needed some mending. But now we're both in good shape to play," Cummings says.

"I didn't think that we'd still be playing so many concerts at this age because there aren't many guys our age who are still almost as popular as they were in their prime."

The band has seen many members come and go, fight and reunite and quit over its 45 years. About the only thing they could rely on was their Canadian fan base, which has been loyal to the band since that fateful reunion concert to close the Winnipeg Pan-Am Games in 1998.

The history of The Guess Who is well known. In 1970, they became the first Canadian band to score a No. 1 hit in the U.S. with American Woman.

Since then, the pair wrote or co-wrote dozens of Top-10 singles -- Laughing, No Sugar Tonight, Hand Me Down World and Albert Flasher among them.

Bachman and Cummings have also scored with solo hits.

It's an amazing legacy. The two rock giants have penned so many hits even Jon Bon Jovi -- a guy who's sold more than 100 million records-- once remarked Bachman and Cummings have more combined hits than the final season of The Sopranos. Bon Jovi plays Taking Care of Business as a tribute to Bachman's former band, Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Cummings makes it clear he's not retiring. He released Above the Ground in 2008 and is working on a new solo album.

Meanwhile, he and Bachman, who hosts the popular Vinyltap program on CBC radio, are writing some new songs, but there is no talk of another authentic Guess Who record.

"I'm not ready for the pressure of recreating The Guess Who at this point in my life," Cummings says.