Elvis Costello Cancels Concerts After Revealing Cancer Diagnosis

From Good Housekeeping

• Musician Elvis Costello has canceled the six remaining dates on his European tour.

• In a message on his website, he revealed he recently underwent surgery to remove a "cancerous malignancy."

• He urged his fans to talk to their doctors, and promised new music later in the year.

Elvis Costello has canceled the rest of his European tour in order to recover from surgery, he announced on his website Friday. The musician revealed he has been diagnosed with a “small but very aggressive cancerous malignancy” and underwent surgery to remove the tumor recently. He is canceling concert dates in Croatia, Austria, Norway, and Sweden after his doctor ordered him to rest.

Costello wrote on his website that normally, patients who undergo his surgery can get back to normal after three or four weeks, but most people aren’t performing every night on a world tour. “The spirit has been more than willing but I have to now accept that it is going to take longer than I would have wished for me to recover my full strength,” he wrote. “Therefore, I must reluctantly cancel all the remaining engagements of this tour.”

He also revealed he will release a “magnificent new record” with The Imposters and “several of our other friends” this October. Rolling Stone reports Costello had already announced a North American tour, to begin in November.

The Guardian noted Costello didn’t mention his type of cancer, but alluded to it with a message to his male fans – “Gentleman, do talk to your friends – you’ll find you are not alone.” And he ended his message encouraging his fans to talk to their doctors if they are feeling unwell. “It may save your life,” he wrote. “Believe me, it is better than playing roulette.”

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