STONES LEGEND WYMAN’S CANCER BATTLE
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FORMER Rolling Stone Bill Wyman yesterday revealed that he is fighting prostate cancer.
The 79- year- old bass guitarist broke the news after fans were concerned that he looked gaunt and frail at the wedding of Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall on Saturday.
His spokesman said: “He is undergoing treatment and is expected to make a full recovery as it was caught in the early stages.”
Medical experts yesterday said the prognosis for surviving prostate cancer is good.
Wyman was in the original line- up of The Rolling Stones alongside Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones when they formed in 1962.
At 25, he was the oldest member of the band by several years.
He left the Stones in 1993, founding his own band Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings four years later.
He played with the Stones during their 50th anniversary shows in London in 2012, but said then he was not interested in rejoining the group on a permanent basis.
He explained: “I’ve got better things to be doing now. That time has gone.”
Wyman has published two autobiographical accounts of life in the band, Stone Alone in 1997 and Rolling With The Stones in 2002. Away from the world of rock he has successfully designed his own brand of metal detectors.
He also opened a restaurant in Kensington, west London, and called it Sticky Fingers.
But his life has not been without controversy.
There was an outcry in 1989 when after divorcing his first wife he married his 18- year- old girlfriend, the model Mandy Smith, who he had been dating since she was 14. He was 52 at the time. The couple split in 1991.
In 1993, Wyman went on to marry his current wife, Californian model Suzanne Accosta, now 46.
They have three daughters and Wyman also has a son by his first wife.
Martin Ledwick, head information nurse at Cancer Research UK, urged men with any symptoms of prostate cancer to see their family doctor.
He said: “Symptoms of prostate cancer include having to rush to the toilet to pass urine; passing urine more often than usual, especially at night; or difficulty passing urine, including straining to pass it or stopping and starting.
“Catching the disease early means that patients have more treatment options and a greater chance of surviving their disease.”