Ex-W.A.S.P. guitarist CHRIS HOLMES opens up about his prostate cancer battle
05-08-2026
In a new interview with Canada’s The Metal Voice, former W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes discussed his decision to launch a GoFundMe campaign seeking financial support to cover the cost of his latest cancer treatment. This despite of the fact he is treated in France, where medical bills aren’t charged like in the USA and are paid with public funds, unless you have special demands, like a single person bedroom.
The 68-year-old Holmes, who has lived in Cannes with his wife since 2014, recently began chemotherapy in France for prostate cancer, just four years after undergoing treatment for throat and neck cancer.
Regarding how he received his prostate cancer diagnosis, Chris said: “What happened was last February I went in for the check on my throat, to the doctor here (in France), the throat doctor. And I told him about a year ago, ‘Hey,’ I go, ‘Hey, doc, I’ve been kind of like whizzing weird. And I wake up three, four times a night, whiz, go right back to sleep. Wake up. It’s weird. I have never done that.’ And I go, ‘I think I got a problem down there.’ And he goes, ‘Ah, you’re just getting old. That’s just your prostate.’ And for a year I just was, like, ‘I’m just getting old. And that’s okay.’ And then I went in. They did a scan. They did a full body, all the way down past my knees this time. Usually they just do the neck to see if the cancer from my throat’s coming back. And this time then I went in to see him and he goes… I went in and I thought he was gonna go, ‘Chris, everything’s cool. We’ll see you next year.’ And he goes, ‘Everything’s not cool.’ He showed it up on a screen, he goes, ‘See that? You got prostate cancer.’ I go, ‘Damn!’ My dad had it, and they say it’s hereditary or whatever. And the good thing is it’s 100% curable. It’s just going through what I gotta go through.”
Explaining why he decided to go public with his prostate cancer battle after initially keeping it a secret, Holmes said: “(TESLA bassist and Chris‘s bandmate in T3RMINAL) Brian Wheat and I and everybody, we tried to keep it quiet because we didn’t want the word cancer and this and that. It’s bad, ’cause we just think T3RMINAL, it’s gonna break out next year, hopefully. I had a concert (scheduled for) Wales this month. I had one, but I can’t go. But what happened is I went in and did a biopsy. They wanted me to pay for it, which wasn’t cheap. And we were, like, ‘Well, we’re gonna get it on the insurance.’ And (my wife) goes, ‘Okay, then we’ll work it out then when you find out,’ blah, blah, blah. Well, months go by. They come in and find out that it’s a cancer. They gotta take care of it, whatever. And then the insurance thing came in. They only give me emergency insurance, which only pays for the radiation. That’s it. Not for any of the scans, not the medicine, not traveling to the hospital, whatever. So anyway, that happens, and then about maybe last month, my wife and I were sitting here. We were adding up everything to see if we can get through the year, and we just went, ‘There’s no way we’re gonna get close. There’s no possible way.’ And so I called up Brian. I go, ‘I need to do a GoFundMe. It’s the only way I’m gonna make it through.’ And it’s helping me, so I won’t be kissing the credit card company and having to claim bankruptcy. I’ve never done that. But it’s okay. I’m getting through it. A lot of people are donating, helping me out. I appreciate it.”
Asked if he thinks that going through the throat issue and that whole thing had psychologically helped prepare him to go through his prostate cancer battle, Chris said: “Definitely. I know getting on the machine that you go inside and it does the radiation, I’ve done that with my throat. I did seven weeks of that. At first they were gonna make me do five weeks. And I was supposed to start in May, and then they pushed it back to June, then they pushed it to July. And I was worried about, if it was gonna metastasize. The doctor said, ‘No, if you’re doing a hormonal therapy, it won’t.’ So I started doing it last month, and I’ve done three weeks. And it’s a little harder than getting on the table and putting a mask on that goes around your chest and then goes up, ’cause it’s on your waist. So they put two tattoo marks, one by my wiener, one by my belly button and one on each side. And you get on the table, and then the computer has lasers on the side. They line you up, and then you go in… It X-rays you and it pulls you out, and then it calibrates how the mechanism, how it shoots the radiation. You can hear it… And then you go in and it starts the treatment. It takes about six to eight minutes, each run… But I’ve done three weeks. I got five more to go. Every day, except Saturday and Sunday.”
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“.
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.
Previously, 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 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”.
“I never learned about the business till about 10 years ago,” he explained. “How do you learn about the business? You’ve gotta be in there with the manager and all that stuff, so I was always kept from that… I put my trust into somebody, and I found out later that he was sticking a knife in my back. I didn’t find that out until 2010 or ’11.
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”.
In October 2020, Chris said that he would never consider returning to W.A.S.P. unless Lawless agreed to pay him the publishing royalties that he allegedly owes him. He told Canada’s The Metal Voice: “A lot of people think I made money from W.A.S.P. I’ve never gotten my royalties, or even my songwriting. All the stuff that I wrote, I’ve never gotten paid one penny. And you know whose fault it is? It’s my my fault for not knowing the business, how it is. I trusted somebody.
“After every album, when the album is done, how they split up the publishing with the publishing contracts, the publishing companies — that’s where the money comes from,” he continued. “I was never told about when that meeting was. Because the other guys in the band never wrote — I was the only one other than Blackie. So I’m the only one that they have to screw over to get all the publishing. So I was never told. Then when I dug into it in about 2006 or 2007, I went into Sanctuary Music, had a lawyer go in to find out where all my publishing is, and I was written in as a session player into all the records. And if you don’t know about it, and you’re not told, and you don’t see, you don’t know. So I trusted Blackie Lawless about that. And when I found out, it really kind of yanked me wrong. It yanks me wrong — it makes me see he was sticking a knife in my back from the first day, from the first album, and not telling me, and being my best friend.”
“Chris, at two different points in his musical career, received settlements from this band; he signed documents as such,” Blackie explained. “And he was paid quite well.
“I haven’t seen what you’re talking about. The answer I’m giving you right now is based on what you just said to me.”
During a November 2017 press conference in Moscow, Russia, Lawless was asked what he would say to those W.A.S.P. fans who continue to call for the band to reunite with Holmes. He responded: “People get divorced for certain reasons, and there’s times when the kids want the parents to get back together, but sometimes it never happens. And this is one of those times. Sorry.”
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