Former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey has revealed he was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year.
The punk legend and outspoken environmental campaigner shared the news in an interview with the Daily Express, explaining that his health scare is now “resolved” and urging men to get their regular check-up for the disease.
“About a year and a half ago, I randomly went to see my GP with a sore throat,” Sharkey said. “So my doctor, being the beautiful, awkward, cantankerous old man that he is went, ‘Oh Feargal, by the way, you’re 65 now, I’m going to run the full battery of tests’.”
Confirming that he caught the positive results of his diagnosis early, he added: “If it had not been seen to, it could have been a very different ending and a very different outcome to my life.”
He went on to send an urgent message to other men: “The reason I’m very happy to talk about it is that if there’s one man out there over the age of 45, go and see your GP. Go and get the blood test done.”
“Now, for one in eight of you, you will be put in the same journey I’ve had and it’s quite astonishing to think that in this country right now, one in eight men have prostate cancer,” he added. “Most of them don’t even know it. So go and have the blood test and if you’re lucky, you’ll walk away.”
Sharkey was the frontman of Derry punk band The Undertones from 1975 until their split in 1983, singing on their signature tracks ‘Teenage Kicks’, ‘My Perfect Cousin’ and ‘Wednesday Week’. He went on to form The Assembly with Vince Clarke of Depeche Mode and Erasure, scoring a 1983 hit with ‘Never Never’, and had a solo number one with ‘A Good Heart’ two years later.
He went on be a leading music industry executive, working for Polydor Records before becoming Head of the Live Music Forum and CEO of British Music Rights and then UK Music.
In recent years, Sharkey has become a leading voice in the political movement for clean rivers and environmental protection, advocating for stronger regulation of the water industry and serving as a vocal critic of institutions such as Ofwat and the Environment Agency.