R.I.P. Mike Peters, founder and frontman of The Alarm

Mike Peters, longtime frontman of Welsh rock group The Alarm, has died at age 66, following a 30-year battle with cancer, according to a statement from his publicist.

Peters was born in Prestatyn, Wales, and grew up living in The Crescent Hotel in Rhyl, with neighbor Eddie MacDonald, who became his bandmate in The Alarm. He formed his first band Hairy Hippie in 1975, to perform at his sister’s 21st birthday party. He later formed The Toilets after seeing the Sex Pistols perform, and in 1978, he and MacDonald, Dave Sharp and Nigel Twist formed Seventeen, which became The Alarm in 1981. They released their debut single “Unsafe Building” that same year, which was followed by their self titled debut EP in 1983, at which point they built up a larger following, earning a spot opening for U2 on tour. Their first full-length LP, Declaration, was released in 1984.

Emblematic of the Big Music as coined by their peers in The Waterboys, The Alarm wrote anthemic songs that were melodic, with soaring choruses, such as on their highest-charting UK single “Sixty-Eight Guns,” or “Strength,” “Rain in the Summertime” and “Sold Me Down the River,” their highest charting U.S. singles. Additionally, their first four albums—Declaration, 1985’s Strength, 1987’s Eye of the Hurricane, and 1989’s Change—all went silver in the UK.

Peters left the band in 1991, and released a series of solo albums throughout the ’90s, but in 2000, The Alarm released a career-spanning box set, and Peters went on tour to promote it as Alarm MM+, featuring members of Stiff Little Fingers, The Sisters of Mercy, and Gene Loves Jezebel. He’s since continued to tour, performing the songs of The Alarm with a rotating lineup.

Peters was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, after which he formed Love Hope Strength, a music-oriented cancer charity focused around stem-cell donation, which has added over 250,000 people to the stem cell registry. Last year, he was diagnosed with Richter’s Syndrome, an aggressive form of lymphoma, and though he received treatment, doctors were unable to prevent its progression.

In 2019, Peters was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the for services to cancer care.