Bad Brains vocalist HR recently had to cancel a solo tour due to ongoing and “increasingly debilitating” struggles with SUNCT headaches–Short-lasting Unilateral Neuralgiform with Conjunctival injection and Tearing–which he has been suffering with since 2014 and underwent surgery for in 2017. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, HR reveals that he deals with “sharp, stabbing pains every couple of minutes in [his] brain for a couple of hours” that go away and come back, and the pain is so severe that he spends most days in bed.
The article states that the 2017 surgery was “only moderately successful,” and that the headaches slowly returned after about a year, and also that he’s still been dealing with financial issues since the surgery, which his recent tour cancellation worsened.
“My plan is to take it easy now and take a break,” he says. “I need to get together with another surgeon and see what I can do, do some investigating so we can work it out.”
HR also adds, “I don’t want anyone to give up on me. I want people to remember I was a good man, who was a fighter and remained humble.”
HR’s wife Lori Carns launched a GoFundMe to help recover losses from the tour cancellation, and she also adds in the description that HR does not have disability insurance. She also says other fundraising ideas, such as T-shirts, are forthcoming.
HR does still continue to make music when he’s able to; he recently released the new single “Everything You Do” featuring Nick Hexum of 311. Listen: