Hüsker Dü bassist Greg Norton has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and a GoFundMe campaign has been established to help offset the cost of his treatment. In a June 30 post on Facebook, Norton said, “my doctors at the Mayo Clinic believe I have excellent odds, but we need to get in right away and move forward with treatment and surgery.”
TheGoFundMe has already far exceeded its original $30,000 goal, with donations standing at more than $47,000 as of this morning (July 5). “For all of my brothers out there, go get tested. It could be a life changer!,” wrote Norton, who is 63 and well known for his anachronistic handlebar mustache.
Norton’s band UltraBomb had been planning to play shows in England and Scotland this month (Norton’s first live appearances in the territories in 35 years), but those dates, as well a planned fall North American tour, are being postponed “to allow me time to recover and return in full force.”
UltraBomb will still take the stage July 16 at Minneapolis’ Hook and Ladder club, the day after the group’s debut album, Time to Burn, is released by DCJam Records.
Featuring Norton alongside vocalist/guitarist Bob Mould and the late vocalist/drummer Grant Hart, Hüsker Dü emerged from the Minneapolis underground rock scene in the early 1980s and became one of the most influential bands of its time. Hüsker Dü split acrimoniously in 1988 and never reunited; Mould went on to form Sugar and release a series of solo albums, while Hart died of cancer in 2017 at the age of 56.
And while a full reissue campaign of the group’s beloved SST Records discography remains stalled due to long-time disputes between the two parties, a wealth of early Hüsker Dü material was unearthed for the first time on the 2017 Numero Group boxed set Savage Young Dü, which featured 47 previously unreleased tracks.
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