Green Day guitarist diagnosed with cancer

Green Day guitarist Jason White has been diagnosed with tonsil cancer. Since his doctors “caught it early”, the musician is expected to make a “full and speedy recovery”.

“We have some news to report regarding our brother Jason … and wanted you to hear it from us before word spread,” the band wrote in a Facebook statement. “Jason recently underwent a routine tonsillectomy, and his doctors discovered a treatable form of tonsil cancer … Please join us in sending him love and positive healing vibes during this time.”

Hundreds of comments of support have been left for the musician since Green Day’s update. White has played with the band for about 15 years, first as a touring guitarist and gradually as a more integral member of the group. At the time of 2012’s Uno, Dos and Tre albums, White officially became the group’s lead guitarist.

In November, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong offered his first clue that the band might release a new album in 2015. “I’m in a hardware store in queens. and this is on my mind,” he wrote alongside an image reading “Green Day 15”. The singer began writing new Green Day songs back in 2013, telling Rolling Stone he would love to do a “shitty-sounding record”, made “100 percent live”. “One thing I can’t do is do anything half-assed,” he said. “I want to make sure everything is right, that the song is fully realised.”

Green Day are among the nominees to be inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2015.

Source: The Guardian