Following a lengthy battle with blood cancer, The Alarm frontman Mike Peters has passed away. He was 66-years old.
Diagnosed with lymphocytic leukemia more than thirty years ago, the musician’s disease was in remission in September of 2024. However, in October he contracted Richter syndrome – an aggressive form of lymphoma – that required a treatment called Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy (CART).
In January of this year, Peters took to social media with:
“My white lymphocytes were harvested in December. Those were then sent to a laboratory where each blood cell was re-engineered by scientists and then targeted to seek and destroy the Richter’s syndrome.”
Due to his illness, The Alarm’s 50-date tour was dealt a huge blow.
“It was devastating because it all happened in an instant. There was no chance to even think about it.” “Untreated I probably had two months to live and to then have to think about stopping the tour, communicating all that to the fans, trying to hold the family together while we are dealing with this devastation, it was intense.” wrote Michael.
The Welsh musician was known for campaigning to raise awareness of cancer through the Love Hope Strength Foundation, which he founded with his wife, Jules, 58. And on April 28, a spokesperson for the charity confirmed the news of Mike’s death.
Before morphing into the popular new wave band, in 1981 The Alarm lived in the Punk rock space as The Toilets. Their biggest hit was ’68 Guns’, which peaked at #17 on the UK Singles Chart in 1983.
Selling 5,000,000+ LPs, the band’s 1984 debut studio LP, ‘Declaration’, made it to #6 in the UK and they were the support act for U2 and Bob Dylan.
Apart from his work with The Alarm, Peters had a solo career and was the vocalist for Big Country.
Mike Peters is survived by his wife and their sons Dylan (20,) and Evan (18.)
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: reelgeorge