Singer retired in the year after uptight publicity (5,5)
I believe the answer is:
prima donna
'singer' is the definition.
(I know that prima donna is a type of opera star)
'retired in the year after uptight publicity' is the wordplay.
'retired' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'in the year' becomes 'anno' (I've seen this before).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'uptight' becomes 'prim' (prim can mean proper or uptight).
'publicity' becomes 'ad' (short for advertisement).
'anno' backwards is 'onna'.
'prim'+'ad'='primad'
'onna' after 'primad' is 'PRIMA DONNA'.
(Other definitions for prima donna that I've seen before include "Diva" , "Leading lady, proverbially temperamental" , "temperamental sort" , "drama queen" , "opera star - with 2d" .)