Oasis rhythm guitarist Paul Arthurs, also known as Bonehead, has been diagnosed with tonsil cancer. He announced this on Twitter yesterday, writing, “Just to let you all know I’m going to be taking a break from playing for a while. I have been diagnosed with tonsil cancer. But the good news is it’s treatable and I will be starting a course of treatment soon. I will keep you posted how it is going.”
— Paul Arthurs. (@BoneheadsPage) April 26, 2022
Now, he will not be playing the shows with Liam Gallagher which were scheduled for this summer. Gallagher responded with support on Twitter, writing: “Sending BIG love to the 1 n only Bonehead and his family wishing you a speedy recovery we’re all thinking of you rasta you’ll be back on stage bfore you can say r we doing Colombia LG x.” Other support erupted on Twitter from Arthurs’ bandmates; drummer Tony McCarroll wrote, “Big love Bone,” and bassist Andy Bell wrote, “Get well soon Bone.”
In October of 2020, the band’s classic hit “Wonderwall” become the first song from the ’90s to crack 1 billion plays on Spotify. It was also only the second song from before the year 2000 to surpass a billion streams. The other is Queen’s 1975 classic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which has over 1.3 billion streams.