Mark Kendall, the guitarist for Great White, announced he is battling Stage 4 cancer.
The 68-year-old rocker shared the news with fans in a Facebook post on Saturday, November 22.
“Just wanted everyone to know I was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer a few months ago. I wanted to wait to go public until I knew a little more about it.
“Just to give you an update the tumor has shrunk from 13 centimeters to 8, so I’m going in the right direction with my first scan. There isn’t a cure for cancer but what I have is manageable. I have the best doctor’s in the world and one of them invented Immunotherapy which is the treatment I’m on.
“I only had to do 3 radiation treatments which is a good thing! To be clear, I don’t need any financial help but I’ll take prayers & encouragement!
“I’m gonna fight this thing and be okay. People in my support group were diagnosed with my exact issue up to 20 yrs ago, so that is encouraging! Blessings All!”
Posted by MarkSKendall on
Kendall is a founding member of Great White, the glam-metal rockers who formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The group had success with singles like “Rock Me,” “The Angel Song,” “House of Broken Love” and “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” a song written by former Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter.
The band survived the rise of grunge to score Rock chart hits in the 1990s like “Call It Rock & Roll,” “Sail Away” and “Rollin’ Stoned.”
“We just kind of took it on the chin,” Kendall said of the change in popular music style in an interview with MisplacedStraws. “We didn’t really get down on ourselves, we just continued business as usual.
“We had to play 2,000-seaters instead of arenas, but still the fans were in front of the stage and we were packing them in every night, and just trying to continue to make the best music we can.”
During the group’s heyday, Kendall was known for playing a Kramer Pacer Custom I electric guitar and an EMG-equipped model made by independent guitar maker Jim Foote under the name Music Works.
Following Great White’s breakup in 2001, he and lead singer Jack Russell, a fellow founding member of the group, formed Jack Russell’s Great White. The band was caught up in controversy in 2003 when, during a performance at the Station in Rhode Island, the group's pyrotechnics display set the venue on fire, leading to the deaths of 100 people, including their guitarist Ty Longley.
Great White reformed in 2006 with Kendall, Russell and other members of the original lineup. Russell died in 2024 less than a month after announcing his retirement due to Lewy body dementia.
