The British Heavy Metal band Saxon recently cancelled 10 tour dates, and vocalist Biff Byford has now explained that he needed emergency surgery after an MRI scan revealed he has bowel cancer.
Saxon’s Biff Byford reveals cancer diagnosis
“Hi, it’s Biff here from Saxon. I wanna keep you up to date on what’s happening with my health and why we’ve had to cancel some shows. So, yeah, I got sick and, obviously, as you know, I had a heart problem. So this time it wasn’t my heart. I went for an MRI scan on my prostate gland before I went to America a few months ago, which was okay, but they found a shadow, a tumor, a small tumor, which they didn’t know was there. So, that’s why I had to have an operation done really quickly on the 8th of July.”
“We never like canceling shows or postponing shows — it’s absolutely rubbish — so I’m over the operation now. It’s been five weeks since I had the operation. It was a small tumor. Unfortunately, I have to have a short period of chemotherapy, what they call a mop-up, just in case there was something there that they didn’t miss. The operation was successful, they got all the cancer out, but they just need to make sure there’s none floating around in my bloodstream.”
He continued:
“So we’re gonna have to cancel the show on the 22nd of August and the 29th and also we’re gonna postpone the Spanish shows and the French shows. They’re gonna go into May and April of next year. The shows in November in the U.K. and Ireland are gonna be going ahead. That’s gonna be great. I should be over it by then. So everything will be going well for then.”
“So, yeah, sorry, because we hate canceling shows, but I wanna let you know what’s happening, ’cause a lot of people speculated it was my heart and things. So they just found this small tumor and they took it out straight away. So, yeah, the prognosis — I think that’s the right word — is good. My cure is progressing. I’m feeling okay at the moment.”
“So, yeah, I’m writing the (next) album, finishing the album, arranging, writing lyrics and doing melodies. That’s the upside of having some free time. Obviously I’ve lost quite a bit of weight, which is also a plus,” Biff Byford said (Transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Saxon’s most recent album is “Hell, Fire and Damnation”, released in 2024. Besides Byford, their current line-up has Brian Tatler (Guitar), Doug Scarratt (Guitar), Nibbs Carter (Bass) and Nigel Glockler (Drums).