The Alarm frontman Mike Peters dies, aged 66

29 April 2025, 13:34 | Updated: 29 April 2025, 13:36

The frontman with the Welsh anthemic rock band has died after a lengthy battle with blood cancer.

By Radio X

@RadioX

The Alarm frontman Mike Peters has died after a long battle with blood cancer.

The 66-year-old musician was diagnosed with lymphocytic leukemia more than 30 uears ago, but the news of his death on 28th April has been announced by his charity, the Love Hope Strength Foundation.

In October last year, Peters found out he had Richter syndrome – an aggressive form of lymphoma – and began a treatment called Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy (CART).

He said in a statement in January: "My white lymphocytes were harvested in December. Those were then sent to a laboratory where each blood cell was re-engineered by scientists and then targeted to seek and destroy the Richter’s syndrome."

The Welsh musician had been due to head out on a 50-date tour before being given the news.

He said: "It was devastating because it all happened in an instant. There was no chance to even think about it.

"Untreated I probably had two months to live and to then have to think about stopping the tour, communicating all that to the fans, trying to hold the family together while we are dealing with this devastation, it was intense."

The Love Hope Strength Foundation was set up with Peters' wife Jules to build awareness of cancer.

The Alarm - Sixty Eight Guns [Official Music Video]

Beginning their life as a series of punk bands, The Alarm officially formed in 1981 in Rhyl, supporting U2 at their Lyceum show in December of the same year. The two groups would often perform together over the next few years, with The Alarm supporting the Irish band at their huge show at Dublin's Croke Park in June 1985.

The Alarm's debut album Declaration from February 1984 was their biggest hit in the UK, spawning the singles 68 Guns and Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke? The band's other hits include Rain In The Summertime and Spirit Of '76.

After The Alarm split following their fifth album Raw in 1991, Peters embarked on a solo career and formed the group Coloursound in 1999 with Cult guitarist Billy Duffy. Following the death of frontman Stuart Adamson, Peters briefly joined Big Country, recording one studio album with them, 2013's The Journey.

Peters was diagnosed with lymph cancer in 1995 but recovered; a decade later he discovered he had chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and formed the Love Hope Strength Foundation with fellow patient James Chippendale. The musician was given an MBE in 2019 for services to cancer care.

The CLL relapsed in September 2022 and it was while undergoing Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy (CART) for Richter's Syndrome that Peters died, aged 66.

He is survived by his wife and their sons Dylan, 20, and Evan, 18.