Madness guitarist, Chris Foreman, has revealed he has been diagnosed with myeloma – a treatable but not curable form of blood cancer.

The 69 year-old founding member of Madness announced the new on Facebook last Friday (August 29), as he shared that he was optimistic about the future and plans to return to the stage next year.

On the Facebook post, Foreman described what led to the diagnoses and seemed in positive spirits. The statement started with Foreman explaining how upper back pain led to an MRI scan: “Earlier this year I had severe pain in my upper back and shoulders. On the 28th of June we played a show in France and it had become unbearable. I had an MRI scan at the end of June and they found a tumour on my spine.”

He continued: “On the 4th of July I went to the Royal Sussex and had all sorts of stuff done to me, I had radiotherapy which blasted it and stopped the pain. I actually had a Spinal Tap too – tock n roll!”

He later went into more detail about the illness and when he expects to be back on stage with his band mates: “What I’ve got is a form of cancer called myeloma. It’s treatable but not curable. When I get it into remission (I will!) I should be able to get back to normal life. Some people have had this for 20 years or more. I have a long way to go before I get back onstage but I am aim to be back next year.

“One of the worst side effects is that I can’t drink alcohol but I’ve mastered a non alcoholic Margarita and those zero alcohol beers ain’t too bad these days.”

Madness announced a 2025 UK ‘Hits Parade’ tour earlier this year which kicks off in Sheffield on December 4. Although the tour will go ahead as planned, Foreman revealed that he will not be participating in it as he joked: “They’ve worked really hard and the shows looked great, I don’t know how they did it without me, to be fair.”

The ‘Baggy Trousers’ icons will head to Glasgow, Leeds, Newcastle, Cardiff, Birmingham and more before ending the tour with a homecoming show at London’s The 02 on December 20.

You can find any remaining tickets for Madness’ December tour here.