Elvis Costello receives aggressive cancer diagnosis
mainThe pop singer who has dabbled successfully in para-classical music and recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, has received some grave news. He has cancelled a summer tour to undergo surgery.
Six weeks ago my specialist called me and said, ‘You should start playing the Lotto’. He had rarely, if ever, seen such a small but very aggressive cancerous malignancy that could be defeated by a single surgery….Therefore, I must reluctantly cancel all the remaining engagements of this tour.
Elvis Costello has been forced to cancel the remaining 6 dates of his current European tour on medical grounds. His doctor has strongly advised him to take a break from his current tour itinerary and rest. Please click here for more information – https://t.co/tEqHUo5l5o
— Elvis Costello (@ElvisCostello) July 6, 2018
We send him good wishes and prayers.
I hope he’ll be OK. I had a couple of very brief but nice chats with him when he came to Haitink’s Ring at CG in the early 90s.
Anyone who can write songs like this deserves all the best of British luck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU_zMvaX05Q
Hear, hear, Dominic. I hope he has many more years to add to an impressive body of work. And of course, musical matters aside, he’s also a father of three, with twin boys only eleven.
His memoir of a few years ago is one of the most elegantly written (and not ghostwritten) we’re going to get from any kind of musician of our time, let alone someone best known for pop and rock.
I’ve never much cared for his music, but I certainly wish him All The Best! I’m more a fan of his wife’s music, Diana Krall. They have twin boys, so I certainly hope everything turns out well.
I know very little of Elvis Costello’s work, but am reliably informed that he is a real musician and a master in the areas he has chosen to work in. In any case, this is a sad story for a young man and I wish him all the best.
But I am intrigued by the term “para-classical.” Knowing the general detestation for “crossover” around here, I would be fascinated if you would illuminate what you mean by this term. As I said, I do not know Mr. Costello’s work. Can you direct me to some in this genre?
V. Lind: He wrote and recorded a song cycle with the Brodsky Quartet, The Juliet Letters, and they toured with it in the ’90s. It has since been recorded or performed live by several others, in whole or in part. Below, his friend Anne Sofie von Otter with Brooklyn Rider in the final song of the cycle. I hope the clip isn’t geo-blocked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDT_Rfd4TB0
Tilson-Thomas and the LSO recorded his ballet suite Il Sogno on DG. And he played a role in a contemporary opera called Welcome to the Voice, which mixed pop performers with classical performers. At various times, Bonney, Roocroft, Todorovitch, Yoncheva and other familiar names sang the female roles. There is more, but those are examples of what Norman meant.
He’s not actually a “young man” – he’s 63.
Best wishes for a full recovery for him. He’s one of the few pop singers whose music I’ve always liked.
I don’t know this man’s music and will not investigate it. Still, I wish him a full recovery and many more years of good health. But Deutsche Grammophon had no business recording this pop rock performer. Classical music has no need for impostors.
I come here to laugh at comments like this but I usually end up crying.
Caravaggio, You are a pompous ass. I like Elvis Costello’s’ work and wish him a speedy and full recovery.
Mr Costello has since clarified that he did not in fact have cancer.