Brad Arnold, the frontman with chart-topping US rock band 3 Doors Down, has been diagnosed with stage four cancer.
The singer said he has kidney cancer that has spread to his lungs. He discovered the illness after feeling unwell in recent weeks, “then I went to the hospital and got checked out and actually got the diagnosis that I had a renal carcinoma that had metastasised into my lung”.
He added: “It’s stage four, and that’s not real good. But, you know what? We serve a mighty God, and he can overcome anything. So I have no fear, I really sincerely am not scared of it at all.” The band have cancelled a summer tour.
Formed in Mississippi, 3 Doors Down exploded on to the US rock scene in 2000 with debut single Kryptonite, which Arnold had written in his mid-teens during a maths class at school. It reached No 3 in the US charts and was nominated for a Grammy for best rock song. Debut album The Better Life was similarly successful, eventually going seven times platinum. Their third and fourth albums, 2005’s Seventeen Days and a self-titled LP in 2008, both reached No 1 in the US, and they had further Top 10 singles with When I’m Gone – earning two more Grammy nominations – and Here Without You.
Arnold is the sole remaining founding member of the group. Bassist Todd Harrell was replaced after being convicted of a 2013 vehicular homicide incident, and guitarist Matt Roberts, who had left the band in 2012 to focus on his health, died of an overdose in 2016.
Arnold had his own struggles with addiction, to alcohol, but credited his Christian faith with supporting his sobriety since 2016. “Without question, God took that burden from me,” he said. “I was so tired of carrying it. I couldn’t carry it any more so I gave it to God and I’m not taking it back.”
3 Doors Down performed at the Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration, a concert to mark Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration as president. After criticism in some quarters, guitarist Chris Henderson defended their performance, saying: “It wasn’t a Trump thing … It was the inauguration of a president of the United States of America. This is history-making stuff. It’s a one-in-a-lifetime chance to do something for your country.”
