Heart has postponed the continuation of its Royal Flush Tour after lead singer Ann Wilson announced that she underwent surgery to remove a cancerous presence in her body.
In a post on Instagram, the 74-year-old revealed that she “underwent an operation to remove something that, as it turns out, was cancerous.” Following the surgery, doctors advised her to undergo preventative chemotherapy, and as part of her recovery and treatment, Wilson has been instructed to take a year off from performing to fully recover.
“To the ticket buyers, I really do wish we could do these gigs,” she continued. “Please know that I absolutely plan to be back on stage in 2025. My team is getting those details sorted & we’ll let you know the plan as soon as we can.”
The Royal Flush Tour, which also featured Cheap Trick, Bachman-Turner Overdrive featuring Randy Bachman and Jason Bonnam’s Led Zeppelin Evening, was the first trek for the band after a five-year hiatus. It had an initial run in April and May in the United States, but in late May, the band canceled all subsequent European performances so that Wilson could undergo a “routine medical procedure.” Those dates were scheduled to begin in June and run through July.
The upcoming leg of the Royal Flush Tour was set to resume in San Francisco on September 26, with dates scheduled through the rest of the year before wrapping in Las Vegas on December 15. In addition to the tour cancellation, Heart will also be unable to open for Def Leppard and Journey this summer.
The 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees split in 2016 after an incident that involved Ann’s husband assaulting Nancy’s twin sons. They performed separately in the years that followed, and reunited in 2019 for the Love Alive tour. It would be four years before they would come back together for a live performance, and in January, they announced the Royal Flush World tour.
See Wilson’s message below.
From Variety US