Session Guitar Legend Chris Spedding Diagnosed With Lymphoma
The 82-year-old guitarist, known for work with Roxy Music, Elton John and the Sex Pistols, began chemotherapy this month as a GoFundMe was launched to help cover his costs.
Aug 21, 2026
Credit: Getty Images (via source)
Session guitarist Chris Spedding has been diagnosed with large B-cell high-grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma and began chemotherapy on August 20, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up to support him and his wife, Jody, through what's expected to be a nine-month course of treatment. Spedding is 82.
Over six decades, Spedding built one of rock's most quietly prolific session careers, playing on records and stages with Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, Elton John, the Sex Pistols, John Cale, Jack Bruce, Tom Waits, Paul McCartney and Robert Gordon, among many others � a resume built on being reliably excellent rather than famous in his own right. The treatment is expected to keep him from working or touring for the foreseeable future.
The fundraiser was organized by Eden Cale, daughter of Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale, to help cover the couple's living and medical expenses during treatment. I've never had the sort of success that means that I could retire, Spedding has said of a career built on saying yes to almost every session that came his way.
Why it matters
Spedding is one of the most widely-heard but least publicly recognized guitarists in rock history, and the fundraiser reflects how little of that reputation translated into financial security.
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