Skunk Anansie bass player Cass reveals stage four cancer diagnosis
He was having chemotherapy while recording the group's upcoming album.
Skunk Anansie bass player Cass has announced he was diagnosed with stage four cancer during the recording of the group’s upcoming album.
Cass, 64, said he was undergoing ‘intensive’ chemotherapy while working on sixth record The Painful Truth, which will be released this summer.
He said he thought his ‘cards had been marked’ but ‘accepted whatever my fate was’ while receiving treatment for the disease.
A year later, Cass said his bandmate Skin’s daughter suddenly announced: ‘Uncle Cass is not sick anymore.’
The musician then had a doctor’s appointment during which tests confirmed they ‘couldn’t find any cancer.’
He was asked to describe his year by Skin and replied ‘The Painful Truth’ giving Skunk Anansie the name of their album.
Cass has performed with Skunk Anansie since it formed in 1994 (Picture: PA)At a Q&A session at Dolby Atmos in London on Monday he said, reports the Daily Mail: ‘That’s what all the songs are about, that connects everything, that connects what we’ve been through over the last few years. It’s the connection with these guys. I love them to bits, you know, they’re my brothers.
‘What we’re going through, and everything, it’s quite emotional, it’s the painful truth. It’s what you’re here for, what’s important in your life, and what you’re going to do about it. That’s the painful truth.’
When revealing his cancer diagnosis publicly to the audience at the session earlier this week, Cass said ‘no one knew nothing’ at the time.
He recalled: ‘I thought my cards had been marked, actually, and so I was just, I was happy with having had a good life, and I was quite content, I accepted whatever my fate was.
‘I wouldn’t think about the work, the record, I would think about my life. I’d had some very intensive chemo sessions, and no one knew nothing.’
Cass’s experience of cancer treatment inspired the name of the album (Picture: Roberto Finizio/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)Cass then recalled how Skin’s daughter was his ‘little angel’ after correctly sensing he was cancer-free before doctors.
He said: ‘I just thought, I’m on this long road of chemo. And that took a year. And then Skin’s daughter woke up one morning and said, “Uncle Cass is not sick anymore”. And this is the truth.’
Skin added: ‘She didn’t know. She didn’t know you were sick. She’s like, Uncle Cass, Uncle Cass. She just wakes up, and she goes, Uncle Cass isn’t sick anymore. So I called him.’
Cass continued: ‘About two weeks later, I had to go and have tests to see how the chemo was affecting me, and they couldn’t find any cancer.
Skunk Anansie made history as the first black British headliner of Glastonbury Festival (Picture: Joseph Okpako/WireImage)‘So from stage four, it disappeared. So her little angel is my little angel. As soon as I knew that I wasn’t going anywhere, I was like “Just get back on the record. There’s nothing better to work for”.’
British rock band Skunk Anansie was formed in London in 1994 by Cass, Skin, Ace and Mark Richardson and played their first gig in Splash Club that year.
Over their decades-long career, they have released six studio albums and one compilation album, spawning hit singles including Charity, Hedonism, Selling Jesus and Weak.
In 1994, Skunk Anansie also made history as the first black British headliner of Glastonbury Festival.
Metro has contacted Skunk Anansie’s rep for comment.
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