3 Doors Down singer Brad Arnold announces cancer diagnosis as band cancels tour

The singer has stage 4 kidney cancer that has spread to his lungs

3 Doors Down singer Brad Arnold has announced he’s been given a stage 4 cancer diagnosis.

The 46-year-old has led the Mississippi-based rock band since 1996. He wrote their breakout 2000 hit “Kryptonite” while still in high school.

In a video posted to the band’s Instagram, Arnold announced he had some “not so good news” to share.

He continued: “I'd been sick a couple of weeks ago and went to the hospital and got checked out. I actually got the diagnosis that I have a clear cell renal carcinoma that has metastasized into my lung... and that’s stage four, and that's not real good.”

Clear cell renal carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer. Stage 4 cancer, also known as metastatic cancer, refers to cancer that has spread from its original location to other parts of the body.

Arnold went on to reiterate his Christian faith, saying: “But you know what? We serve a mighty God, and he can overcome anything. So I have no fear. I really, sincerely am not scared of it at all, but it is gonna force us to cancel our tour this summer, and we're sorry for that.”

3 Doors Down singer Brad Arnold announces stage 4 cancer diagnosis (Instagram/3 Doors Down)

The band had been scheduled to perform at the Welcome to Rockville Festival in Daytona Beach, Florida, next week ahead of a US tour throughout the summer. All forthcoming dates have now been cancelled.

Arnold concluded his message by saying: “I'd love for you to lift me up in your prayers every chance you get, and I think it’s time for me to go listen to ‘It’s Not My Time’ a little bit, right? Thank you guys so much. God loves you. We love you. See you.”

3 Doors Down released “It's Not My Time” in 2008 as the first single from their self-titled fourth album. It was originally written for the 2006 remake of disaster film The Poseidon Adventure, and is about escaping death.

Brad Arnold onstage in Nashville, Tennessee in 2019 (Getty Images)

The band’s debut album, The Better Life, released in 2000, went platinum seven times over. They have released five albums since. Arnold is the band’s longest-serving and only original member. He is a recovering alcoholic who quit drinking in 2016 and discussed his newfound sobriety around the release of the band’s most recent album, Us and the Night.

3 Doors Down famously performed at Donald Trump’s first inauguration in 2017, performing renditions of “Kryptonite”, “The Broken”, “When I'm Gone” and “Here Without You”.