Doug Aldrich will not be participating in the upcoming Dead Daisies tour as he faces a battle with cancer.
“Hi, to all Daisies fans. We have some crappy news we’d like to share… Unfortunately, Doug has been diagnosed with a treatable throat cancer and has to undergo surgery this week,” the band announced on Instagram.
Their statement continued, “Moving forward, Doug will not be available for the next run, and subsequently long-time good friend & band mate from the Whitesnake days, Reb Beach, will be filling in for the upcoming European dates. Please join us in wishing Doug all the best for a speedy recovery. We look forward to having him back on deck really soon. We’ll keep you posted!”
Aldrich joined the Dead Daisies in early 2016, stepping in for Richard Fortus, and has remained with the band since. He is the longest-serving member after founder David Lowy.
In a May interview with MisplacedStraws, Doug discussed his recent focus: “The Dead Daisies has been my number one priority for the past 4 years. When I stopped being a part of the Revolution Saints project, I focused 100 percent on the Daisies. I do write different stuff that maybe wouldn’t be for the Daisies.”
He further shared, “I just kind of tuck it away or whatever. Maybe I’ll get into that at some point, but at the moment we are really busy promoting the tour that’s just around the corner next month. Then this album is going to come out and we’re going to be busy.”
He added, “We’re doing the U.S. dates, we got UK dates and European dates, and we’ll probably fill in a few other things. But other than that, when I’m home, I’m doing family stuff. It’s really important to me; it’s important when you got little kids that you’re around and that you can do things with them that are memories. So right now my daughter’s eight and I’m really blessed to be able to be home sometimes where I’m not always gone.”
