Busted founder James Bourne has announced he is having major surgery to "extend his life" in a sudden health update.
The band’s rhythm guitarist and songwriter, 42, was forced to step back from Busted’s 2025 tour with McFly at the last moment after rapidly falling ill and was replaced by his younger brother Chris.
Bourne has stayed out of the limelight since then, although bandmates told crowds during the tour that he was “really sick”.
The musician has now taken to Instagram to update fans about his health struggles. He wrote: "I realised it’s been about six months since I posted last.
"I have a plan in place to have major surgery that should extend my life and hopefully make me well enough to come back to what I love the most which is touring and making music.
"It really sucks to be out of the game. But there is hope!"
Bourne grew up in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, where he met future Busted bandmate Matt Willis when they both auditioned unsuccessfully for other bands.
The pair began writing together, inspired by the likes of Blink-182 and BBMak. With the addition of singer Charlie Simpson, they formed Busted in 2002.
Almost instantly, the band made waves in the charts with their first single What I Go To School For.
The band split three years later in 2005, after scoring four number one singles, but later reformed in 2016.
Busted were set for a major stadium tour in September 2025, when Bourne announced he would have to pull back with just hours to spare.
Writing online at the time, Bourne said he had health problems and he “hoped to come back further down the line”.
He wrote: "The VS tour kicks off tomorrow night in Birmingham and as excited as I’ve been all year for this tour to begin, I’m really sorry to say that over the last 8 days it has become clear that I am not in good enough health to play these shows.
"There’s a lot of information I still don’t have about my condition but my bandmates, management and I are unanimous in deciding that I should focus on medical stuff for now.
"I really hope I can be in a position to come back further down the line. It’s still going to be an amazing show and I will miss being there!"
