Guitarist Tony MacAlpine has had to postpone his upcoming tour of Asia and Australia. In a statement, he said that he and his doctors believe he has colon cancer.
Yesterday (August 24th), MacAlpine posted the following on his Facebook page:
“Last week I was taken to the hospital with severe stomach pains. Following blood work, multiple MRI scans and various procedures, medical doctors discovered a large mass in my intestine, and it seems likely that we are dealing with cancer. My doctors have advised me that this will need to be dealt with immediately, and I am scheduled for surgery this week. Recovery from this surgery will take a month – right when I was scheduled to tour the Australian region. Providing all goes well, it is our understanding I should be well enough to perform on the coming European tour.”
MacAlpine added that they are looking to reschedule the tour and gave refund information. He concluded by saying that he’s “determined to make these dates up, and rock your city soon!”
The 54-year old MacAlpine rose to prominence in the mid-’80s on the strength of Edge of Insanity (1986) and Maximum Security (1987). Originally signed to Shrapnel Records, the independent label that launched the careers of guitar virtuosos like Paul Gilbert (Racer X, Mr. Big), Jason Becker (David Lee Roth) and Marty Friedman, MacAlpine had a brief stint on PolyGram in the ’90s and has featured on a few of Joe Satriani‘s and Steve Vai‘s G3 tours. Back in April, he released Concrete Gardens, his 12th studio album.
additional source: ultimateclassicrock.com
4 Responses
Tony is an amazingly talented guitarist. My prayers are with him to make a full recovery.
F–k cancer-kick ass Tony!
I pray for Tony to make a speedy and complete recovery.
Praying for a full, speedy recovery.