Beverley Craven diagnosed with breast cancer for second time
The 55-year-old singer has had a double mastectomy and will undergo chemotherapy after the November leg of her tour.
Singer Beverley Craven has been diagnosed with cancer for a second time.
Best known for her 1991 hit Promise Me, Craven had breast cancer in 2005 and learned last month the disease had returned.
She has now undergone a double mastectomy and lymph node clearance.
The star, 55, is due to perform with singers Julia Fordham and Judie Tzuke on their joint Woman To Woman tour.
She has assured fans she will be able to complete the November leg of the tour before undergoing chemotherapy.
The second leg, due to take place in March next year, has been rescheduled until June to allow her time to recover.
Craven said in a statement: “First of all, I want to reassure everyone who has bought tickets for Woman To Woman 2018 that I will be fit and fully recovered in time for our tour this year.
“When the tour finishes in early December, I will start a five-month course of chemotherapy in an effort to severely diminish the chances of the cancer spreading further.”
She thanked Fordham and Tzuke for their “unbelievable selflessness and support during these last few very difficult weeks”.
“Their insistence that my health must come before our W2W tour – a project that we’ve all worked ridiculously hard to put together over the past year – has made me feel very cared for and valued as a friend, a colleague and as an artist.
“I am hugely grateful to be surrounded by such kind and considerate human beings.”
Craven said her daughters Mollie, Brenna and Connie had been “looking after me at home – cooking, cleaning, dog walking, bed making, clothes washing, food shopping, giving me the best hugs in the world and telling me several times a day how much they love me”.
She added: “I feel truly blessed and very lucky to have such caring and devoted daughters.”
Craven thanked people who have helped her to “overcome and cope with this brutal and terrifying disease”, including her breast surgeon, her partner and her best friends and sister.
“You have all given me courage in my darkest moments and the strength to beat this,” she said.
Craven’s biggest hit was her debut single Promise Me, which helped her to win the British breakthrough act prize at the Brit Awards in 1992.
She has released five albums over the years, her latest being 2014’s Change Of Heart, which peaked at 90 in the charts.
