Former W.A.S.P. Guitarist CHRIS HOLMES Is Battling Prostate Cancer

Former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The 68-year-old musician, who successfully battled throat and neck cancer back in 2022, has begun radiotherapy for the most common cancer among men (after skin cancer) in France, where he has lived with his wife since 2014.

Chris's wife and manager Catherine Savean Holmes has launched a GoFundMe campaign to assist them in the mounting medical bills that they will incur while the guitarist is unable to tour. Chris and Catherine are aiming to raise 50,000 euros (approximately $57,000) to help cover the costs of medication, medical exams and transport Chris needs to finish his treatment safely.

Chris and Catherine's introductory message on the GoFundMe page reads as follows:

*Supporting Chris Holmes Through His Cancer Treatment**

"We never imagined we would have to write something like this again. In 2022, just after two years of Covid lockdown, Chris faced throat cancer. A GoFundMe carried us through an impossible moment. We were deeply grateful, and we hoped we would never have to ask again.

"Today life has placed us in another hard situation, and we want to speak about it honestly.

"Chris has begun radiotherapy in France for prostate cancer. The treatment is essential and cannot be interrupted.

"Because of an administrative error linked to our marriage registration, the health insurance system placed Chris under 'emergency only' coverage. He had to wait three months before receiving any care at all, and only the radiotherapy given during the month of July is covered.

"Everything else falls to us:

* Hormone therapy (standard and new generation)
* Scans and PET scans
* Biopsy and blood tests
* Daily travel to and from the hospital

"This has already left us with €20,000 in medical debt, and the treatment ahead will keep adding to it every month.

"Chris must remain in France to receive radiotherapy. Leaving the country would risk his emergency status lapsing, so he cannot travel and therefore cannot work.

"Chris has given everything to his music and to the people who listen to it. It is his whole life. Today we cannot carry this alone.

"We are grateful to France for granting the emergency coverage that allowed Chris to begin radiotherapy. Now we ask, humbly, for help covering everything else.

"If you are able to give, even a small amount, it goes directly to the medication, medical exams, and transport Chris needs to finish his treatment safely. And if you cannot give, your messages, your love, and your presence mean just as much.

"With gratitude and our love, Chris and Catherine".

This past April, Holmes canceled his previously announced tour of the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, scheduled for May 2026.

A week after it was announced by the social media of The Abyss club in Gothenburg, Sweden, where Holmes was scheduled to perform on May 27, that the musician was scrapping his shows in May "due to health issues that require immediate attention", his wife said that the shows were called off due to "a minor prostate issue" which was "already being taken care of." She added that Chris would "be back on his feet and on stage soon."

After Holmes was diagnosed with throat and neck cancer in February 2022, he immediately postponed his touring commitments while he received treatment. He completed seven weeks of radiation therapy and five months later, he shared the good news with fans that his cancer was "gone".

Holmes joined W.A.S.P. in 1982 and remained with the group until 1990. In 1996, the guitarist returned to W.A.S.P. and stayed with the band until 2001. Chris has not played with W.A.S.P. since.

In 2021, Holmes told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that W.A.S.P. was "a group, a band" on the first LP. "And after that, the second album, it wasn't a group — it was a one-man show," he said. "And it's been a one-man show after that ever since. It's the way it is. Look at the records. It's the way it is in that band."

According to Chris, he, guitarist Randy Piper, drummer Tony Richards and Blackie Lawless were all part of W.A.S.P. initial management contract, but Blackie was the only one signed to the record label. "Everybody thinks we [all] signed to the label, but it wasn't [like that]," Holmes told "Trunk Nation".

Despite the fact that he only got songwriting credit on a couple of the songs on each of the first four W.A.S.P. records, Holmes was adamant that his input was essential to the band's overall sound."If I would have quit after the first album, the way I play guitar, the way I play is really important to writing those songs," he told "Trunk Nation".

"If I hadn't joined in the beginning, it would have never worked. Blackie told me that the first day, when he came and talked to me to play in W.A.S.P. He says, 'I've got this band. It's not gonna work unless you're in it.' He told me that to my face."