W.A.S.P. frontman Blackie Lawless has urged the band’s fanbase to rally around around founding guitarist Chris Holmes, who is battling prostate cancer in France under difficult and costly circumstances.
The appeal came on Saturday, August 1, when Lawless posted a heartfelt message through W.A.S.P.‘s official social media, calling on fans to stand behind one of the band’s original members in any way they can:
“The entire W.A.S.P. family are devastated with the news that our Brother and originator, Chris Holmes is now in a serious fight. We ask that all of you, who have been moved and touched by the Band stand with us all, to support, as well as to honor him with whatever you can do, be it financial, or words of peace and encouragement. Let him know what he’s meant to you. W.A.S.P. Nation Support You All !!”
Lawless‘ plea followed a GoFundMe campaign launched by Holmes‘ wife and manager, Catherine, to help the couple cope with mounting medical bills. The 68-year-old guitarist, who lives in France with his wife, recently began radiotherapy, but a bureaucratic tangle has left the couple footing the bill for much of his care.
“The treatment is essential and cannot be interrupted,” Catherine wrote. “Because of an administrative error linked to our marriage registration, the health insurance system placed Chris under ’emergency only’ coverage.” As a result, she said, Holmes “was forced to wait three months before receiving any care at all, and only the radiotherapy given during the month of July is covered.” Everything else — from hormone therapy, scans and PET scans to biopsies, blood tests and the daily trips to and from the hospital — has fallen to the couple. “Everything else falls to us,” she added.
The costs have piled up quickly. Catherine revealed that the couple is now sitting on “€20,000 in medical debt,” with “treatment ahead” set to “keep adding to it every month.” Compounding the problem, Holmes has no way to earn while he’s being treated: “Chris must remain in France to receive radiotherapy. Leaving the country would risk his emergency status lapsing, so he cannot travel and therefore cannot work,” she explained. “Chris has given everything to his music and to the people who listen to it. It is his whole life. Today we cannot carry this alone.”
While thanking France for “granting the emergency coverage that allowed Chris to begin radiotherapy,” Catherine asked, “humbly, for help covering everything else.”
Sadly, this is not Holmes‘s first health crisis in recent years. In February 2022, he was diagnosed with throat and neck cancer and stepped away from touring for treatment, completing seven weeks of radiation before sharing with fans five months later that his cancer was “gone.” There were early signs of the current situation, too: this past April, Holmes scrapped a planned May 2026 tour of the U.K. and Scandinavia. At the time, after his show at Gothenburg’s The Abyss club was pulled over “health issues that require immediate attention,” Catherine described it as a “minor prostate issue” that was “already being taken care of,” expressing hope he’d be “back on his feet and on stage soon.”
Holmes remains one of the most important figures in W.A.S.P.‘s history. He joined the Los Angeles band in 1983 and became its lead guitarist during its classic era, lending his ferocious playing to a run of defining records, the self-titled debut W.A.S.P. (1984), The Last Command (1985), Inside The Electric Circus (1986) and The Headless Children (1989). He remained with the group until 1990, returned for a second stint from 1996 to 2001, and has pursued his own projects and solo career since. His guitar work was central to the sound that carried W.A.S.P. to prominence.
The GoFundMe launched by Catherine has a goal of €50,000 (roughly $57,000), of which close to €20,000 has been raised so far, with donations going toward the medication, examinations, and transportation Holmes needs to complete his treatment.
