John Farnham Given ‘All Clear’ Following Cancer Battle: ‘Bring on 2024’

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The 74-year-old singer was given the "all clear" from doctors last month.

 

 

PERTH, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 04: John Farnham performs on stage at Falls Festival on January 4, 2020 in Fremantle, Australia. (Photo by Matt Jelonek/Wire Image)

 

 

 

 

John Farnham is cancer-free and feeling like “the luckiest man alive.”

The legendary Australian singer shared the good news to mark the anniversary of a marathon operation to remove a cancerous growth from his mouth.

“It’s been a year since my first surgery and to be honest I’ve lost count as to how many other procedures there’s been since then. I’m sure someone’s kept track of them all — let’s just say, there’s been a few,” he writes in a statement.

“But, I’m home now and I’m a very grateful and happy man.”

The 74-year-old artist underwent eight weeks of radiation treatment after that initial surgery, and was given the “all clear” from doctors last month.
“It’s only now that I can start to appreciate and comprehend, for myself, how many messages of love and support have been sent to me over the past year,” he adds. “I don’t know what to say, other than thank you so very much. It honestly means the world to me.”

And how did he mark the anniversary of his surgery? By enjoying a pizza — “because I can,” he remarked. “I can’t wait to see what might be next on the menu. Bring on 2024.”

Farnham is one of Australia’s most successful — and most recognizable — recording artists, with hits across five decades.

The greatest of them all is “You’re the Voice,” which led the Australian chart (then the Kent Music Report) and peaked at No. 6 on the Official U.K. Chart. “You’re The Voice” and Men At Work’s “Down Under” are regarded in these parts as the “unofficial” national anthems.

The hit single appeared on 1986’s Whispering Jack, the first record to sell over a million copies in Australia. To this day, Whispering Jack is recognized as the highest-selling Australian album in ARIA history, with more than 1.6 million copies shifted.

Farnham has been saluted with multiple awards and honors, including the 1987 Australian of the Year, he was made Officer of the Order of Australia in 1996, he’s collected 21 ARIA Awards — the most by a solo artist — and inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2003.

When Farnham was admitted to hospital earlier this year to combat a chest infection, fans feared the worst. But the singer, as he has done throughout his recording career, made a strong comeback.

In May of this year, he was the subject of a feature-length documentary, John Farnham: Finding The Voice, released through Sony Pictures, with a companion soundtrack through Wheatley Records / Sony Music Australia. The doc went on to become Australia’s highest-grossing feature-length music documentary of all time, and the LP debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart, for his 20th top 10 appearance.