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Longtime Madness guitarist Chris Foreman has announced he’s been diagnosed with a treatable yet incurable form of blood cancer.
The 69-year-old musician, who co-founded the British ska and pop band in 1976, revealed the news Friday in a Facebook post.
“Earlier this year, I had severe pain in my upper back and shoulders,” Foreman wrote. He explained that he went in for an MRI scan at the end of June after the pain became “unbearable.”
“They found a tumour on my spine,” he said. The next month, he said he underwent “all sorts of stuff,” including “radiotherapy which blasted it and stopped the pain.”
“I actually had a Spinal Tap too – rock n roll! I wasn’t in good shape, to say the least,” he added. “My kidneys were only at 14 percent function, which has greatly improved since then.”
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Chris Foreman (right) and Madness lead singer Suggs (left) in 2021 (Getty Images)
He continued: “What I’ve got is a form of cancer called myeloma. It’s treatable but not curable. When I get it into remission (I will!) I should be able to get back to normal life.”
Also called multiple myeloma, it is a rare blood cancer in which cancerous plasma cells build up in bone marrow, according to Mayo Clinic.
“Some people have had this for 20 years or more,” he noted. “I have a long way to go before I get back onstage but I aim to be back next year. The band, my family, my road crew family and my management team have all been very loving and supportive.”
On a lighter note, he quipped that one of the worst side effects of treatment “is that I can’t drink alcohol,” but “I’ve mastered a non alcoholic Margarita and those Zero alcohol beers ain’t too bad these days.”
“It’s been really hard not being onstage with the band this year,” Foreman concluded. “They’ve worked really hard and the shows looked great. I don’t know how they did it without me, to be fair.”
Because of his treatment, he said he “won’t be able to do Butlins or the tour this year, which is a great shame.” “But ……I’LL BE BACK!” he promised.
Madness is scheduled to embark on a multi-city tour across the U.K. this December, beginning in Brighton.
Initially formed as the North London Invaders by Foreman, keyboardist Mike Barson, and late saxophonist Lee Thompson, the band later completed its classic seven-member lineup, adding lead singer Suggs, bassist Mark Bedford, trumpeter/dancer Chas Smash, and drummer Dan Woodgate, who replaced Gary Dovey. Smash departed the group in 2014 to focus on a solo career.
Renamed to Madness in 1979, they are best known for their 1982 song “Our House,” off their fourth album, The Rise & Fall.
In total, they have released 13 studio albums, including One Stop Beyond… (1979), Absolutely (1980), 7 (1981), Keep Moving (1984), Mad Not Mad (1984), The Madness (1988), Wonderful (1999), The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1 (2005), The Liberty of Norton Folgate (2009), Oui Oui, Si Si, Ja Ja, Da Da (2012), Can’t Touch Us Now (2016), and Theatre of the Absurd Presents C’est la Vie (2023).