Philip Chevron, guitarist for Celtic punk legends The Pogues, has been diagnosed with an inoperable form of cancer.
As The Guardian reports, the 55-year-old guitarist had previously recovered from cancer of the head and the neck after a struggle of more than five years after first being diagnosed in 2007.
But doctors discovered a new tumour in recent treatments that according to a statement on the official Pogues website is “in short, inoperable and will prove fatal in time, thought it is at present impossible to measure life expectancy.” A statement from doctors reads:
The head and neck cancer for which he received treatment in 2007 and a clean bill of health in April 2012 has in fact returned. In August 2012, Philip and his doctors noticed a new tumour and this one is in a position whereby treatment is seriously ill-advised and would almost certainly cause a stroke or worse.”
Chevron was the founding member of Irish punk band The Radiators, which he fronted from their inception in 1976 to their first breakup in 1981, after which he moved to London and became friends with record shop co-worker, Shane MacGowan.
A few years later Chevron joined MacGowan in The Pogues following the release of their 1984 debut record, Roses For Me and became a full-time part of the lineup for its popular follow-up, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.
After struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, Chevron quit The Pogues in 1994 but rejoined the lineup for the 2001 reunion of the band, and was behind the remastering of the band’s back catalogue in 2004.
The statement on The Pogues website reads:
Chevron, who was last year part of the releases The Pogues In Parison Polydor and the Radiators’ Sound City Beat on Chiswick, is currently taking a break from both bands. The Pogues are on a prolonged time out, emerging only in support of matters relating to their 30th anniversary this year, while the Radiators from Space have formed a splinter group, The Trouble Pilgrims, in which Chevron plays no part. In recent times Chevron has accepted several theatre music commissions, including the Old Vic Theatre in London and Galway’s Druid Theatre.
Philip thanks his friends, colleagues, family and management team for their enduring support and hopes to make some notable musical contributions before, as he puts it, the cancer becomes “lethal”
