Taboo of Black Eyed Peas fame reveals battle with cancer

MEXICO CITY: Jimmy Gomez, better known as the rapper Taboo from The Black Eyed Peas, had money, fame and a multi-platinum career when a strange back pain brought his world crashing down.

The six-time Grammy winner went to the doctor and got a gut-wrenching diagnosis: he had testicular cancer.

He had more than 100 million record sales to his name and a string of worldwide dance hits like and but it meant nothing in the face of cancer’s cruel reality, he said.

“They didn’t tell me what type of cancer I had. They didn’t tell me what stage I was in. They just told me, Mr Gomez, you have cancer. My life flashed before my eyes. I thought about my kids, I thought about my wife. Nothing prepares you for the shock of someone telling you that you have that horrible disease,” said Taboo, 42.

That was in 2014. It was only last year that he went public about his struggle with cancer, now in remission after a gruelling series of chemotherapy treatments.

Today, the Los Angeles native is an ambassador for the American Cancer Society. He spoke ahead of the World Cancer Leaders’ Summit here, which gathered high-level policymakers on Tuesday for an annual exchange on fighting the world’s second-leading cause of death.

It was not an easy journey to get there. Taboo went through agonising chemotherapy treatments: 12 weeks of sixhour daily sessions that he describes as “war, torture and a nightmare” rolled into one.

He cited his maternal grandmother as his biggest influence. “She’s a Shoshone Native American woman who had a warrior instinct. And my warrior instinct kicked in,” he said.