Mike Peters, frontman of the Welsh band The Alarm, has passed away at the age of 66 due to blood cancer.
The guitarist and lead singer was forced to cancel a U.S. tour last year following a fast-growing lymphoma diagnosis and had since been undergoing treatment at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester. His death was announced by a spokesperson for Love Hope Strength, the cancer charity he co-founded with his wife.
Peters was born in Prestatyn, Denbighshire, Wales, and started his musical career with Hairy Hippie, a band he formed with his schoolmates to perform at his sister’s 21st birthday party.
Following his initial brush with band life, he formed the Toilets after seeing the Sex Pistols play in Chester, England. Various lineup changes and a rebrand (plus the addition of guitarist Dave Sharp) later, the new-and-improved band – The Alarm – played their first gig in Prestatyn in 1981.
They would go on to open for U2 and Bob Dylan, tally up an estimated 5 million sales worldwide, and become stalwarts of Welsh rock, cracking America along the way.
While the band broke up after Peters left the group on stage at London’s Brixton Academy in 1991, the vocalist/guitarist powered on with his first solo venture, Breathein 1994. Just a year later, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and in 2005, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which returned in 2015 before he went into remission.
Despite his health struggles, Peters continued to record new material, tour his music across Europe and the U.S., and raise awareness about cancer – releasing the inspiring documentary Man in the Camo Jacket in 2017 and receiving an MBE in 2019 for his services to cancer awareness.
“The simple message is to stay alive and appreciate every second you’ve got,” he told Guitar World in a 2017 interview. “Live right up to the last breath and stay positive about the world, your family, and the environment you live in.
“When we first came to America, I was in my early twenties. I’m 58 now and am still the same punk rocker in my head. I want to give the feeling out to live life to the fullest.”
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