Elvis Costello gave an update on his battle with cancer in a new interview with US show ‘CBS This Morning’, on which he also gave a live performance.
The musician had been forced to cancel a number of dates on medical grounds, following a diagnosis of “small but very aggressive cancerous malignancy”.
Despite rumours that the illness was ‘life-threatening’, Costello was keen to point out that he is now making a full recovery in the video you can watch below.
“I’m great! I was extremely lucky to have this little thing found,” Costello says of surgery he underwent, before taking aim at how the extent of his illness was blown out of proportion.
“I was receiving letters for three weeks. No, I am not dying! It’s not to make a joke of it, because you don’t have to walk very far to find somebody you love who’s genuinely having a fight [with cancer].”
In the interview Costello also discussed his forthcoming album with his band The Imposters, titled ‘Look Now’, and his desire to keep pushing his sound into new territory.
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“Sometimes it horrifies people when it’s very far from what they see as ‘home’ or your strong point, the musician said, “but what about the people that embrace different things?”
Two of the songs on his new album were co-written with Burt Bacharach, which Costello also discussed in the interview. He also played three live tracks, two of which are from ‘Look Now’ – ‘Suspect My Tears’ and ‘Unwanted Number’.
The new album was released last month. It is the first recordthe new-wave icon has made with the Imposters since the 2008 release, ‘Momofuku’. It also marks Costello’s first album since 2013’s ‘Wise Up Ghost’, his collaboration with The Roots.
Costello, who had been teasing the album for a while, said he felt it was time to return to the studio whilst on the ‘Imperial Bedroom & Other Chambers’ US tour last summer.