Busted star James Bourne has revealed he is preparing for major surgery he hopes will ‘extend his life’ after being forced to quit touring due to ill health.
Jasmine Allday Assistant TV and Showbiz Editor
20:47, 04 Apr 2026
James Bourne, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson of Busted (Image: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images For Bauer Media)
Busted star James Bourne has shared a devastating health update with fans. The musician was forced to quit his band’s tour with McFly just hours before it kicked off due to his health.
Now, James, 42, has broken his silence on social media to give fans an update. He explained that he was awaiting major surgery which he hoped would “extend his life” and that he was desperate to go back to making music and touring.
Writing on his Instagram Stories, he shared a sad update with fans. James wrote: “I realised it’s been about six months since I posted last. I have a plan in place to have a major surgery that should extend my life and hopefully make me well enough to come back to what I love the most which is touring and making music. It really sucks to be out of the game. But there is hope!”
He has not disclosed what type of surgery or condition. Last year, James said he was unable to perform on the McFly vs Busted tour – which came to Dublin and Belfast – as he was sick.
“The VS tour kicks off tomorrow night in Birmingham and as excited as l’ve been all year for this tour to begin, I’m really sorry to say that over the last 8 days it has become clear that I am not in good enough health to play these shows,” he wrote.
“There’s a lot of information I still don’t have about my condition but my bandmates, management and I are unanimous in deciding that I should focus on the medical stuff for now. I really hope I can be in a position to come back further down the line. It’s still going to. be an amazing show and I will miss being there! See you all as soon as possible.”
The statement posted on Instagram(Image: James Bourne /Instagram)
During their tour, the band kept James front and centre of the show in spirit and would regularly speak about him, Mirror UK reports. In one sad update, Matt Willis had said: “Okay, you may have noticed our best friend is not here tonight. James Bourne is really f***ing sick and we love him and we miss him. This is the first show we’ve ever played without him and it’s really weird.
“But we’re gonna do the best we can.” He also added that it had “happened f***ing fast”, before adding “health is wealth”. He said they had signed someone else up to play in James’ place, before bringing his younger brother Chris onstage.
Following the opening night in Birmingham, Busted vs McFly carried on across the UK in cities including London, Cardiff, Newcastle and Liverpool. They then played four nights across Dublin’s 3Arena and Belfast’s SSE Arena in October.
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