Mike Peters, frontman of Welsh rock band the Alarm, who became as known for his three-decade struggle with cancer and fundraising efforts to combat the disease, has died, according to the BBC. He was 66 and finally succumbed to his illness.
The Alarm formed in 1981 and soon became known for their rabble-rousing, activist rock via such songs as “The Stand” and “Sixty Eight Guns,” which charted in the U.K. two years later. They scored alternative radio hits in the U.S. in the 1980s, like “Rain in the Summertime,” and opened for U2, and Peters later performed with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
Yet it was the singer’s battles with cancer — he was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1995 and later lymphocytic leukemia twice — that kept him in the public eye, along with his music career. His wife of nearly 40 years, Jules, battled the disease as well.
Peters was first diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1995 and described his ensuing battles with cancer over the years as like “fighting a war.” His chronic lymphocytic leukemia was first diagnosed in 2005 and returned in 2015 before going into into remission.
However, he continued to tour, record and live his life, sharing his struggles publicly with optimism and the dogged spirit that imbued many of his songs. He left the Alarm in 1991 and worked with his wife in the band Poets of Justice, but reformed the Alarm nine years later and also worked for a time as the lead singer of Scottish group Big Country.
Among other efforts, he co-founded the Love Hope Strength Foundation with his wife to help recruit bone marrow donors at live music shows. He also led groups on mountain-climbing expeditions in the Himalayas and to Mount Kilimanjaro, and in 2017 launched the “Big Busk,” a walk between cancer wards in hospitals in northern Wales, ending on the summit of Mount Snowdon.
Peters filmed a documentary about his battle with cancer and also one for the BBC with his wife about their struggles with the disease titled “While We Still Have Time.”
Late last year, the lymphoma returned and he was forced to cancel a U.S. tour. He entered specialized therapy intended to “reprogram” his immune cells. His death was announced on Tuesday by a spokesperson for his and his wife’s foundation.
The strength and positivity that embodied his struggles with the disease is clear in a comment he made to Guitar World in 2018. “Stay alive and appreciate every second you’ve got,” he said. “Live right up to the last breath and stay positive about the world, your family and the environment you live in.”
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