Megadeth has canceled the majority of their upcoming tour following singer/guitarist Dave Mustaine’s throat cancer diagnosis.
“I’ve been diagnosed with throat cancer. It’s clearly something to be respected and faced head on — but I’ve faced obstacles before,” Mustaine (pictured above, second from the right), 57, wrote on the hard rock band’s website Monday. “I’m working closely with my doctors, and we’ve mapped out a treatment plan which they feel has a 90% success rate. Treatment has already begun.
“Unfortunately, this requires that we cancel most shows this year. The 2019 Megacruise will happen, and the band will be a part of it in some form. Megadeth will be back on the road ASAP,” he continued.
“Meanwhile, Kiko, David, Dirk and I are in the studio, working on the follow up to ‘Dystopia’ – which I can’t wait for everyone to hear.”
Born in La Mesa, California, Mustaine was originally the lead guitarist for Metallica but was fired from the band by drummer Lars Ulrich and singer/guitarist James Hetfield during recording sessions in New York because of alcohol and drug use. Mustaine appeared with his former bandmates in their “Some Kind of Monster” documentary in 2004 to address his firing.
He went on to form Megadeth in 1983 with David Ellefson, Kiko Loureiro and Dirk Verbeuren.
The thrash metal outfit has since sold over 38 million records worldwide and received 12 Grammy nominations. They won their first Grammy in 2017 for “Dystopia” in Best Metal Performance category.