James Bourne says his youngest brother, Chris, saved his life by donating a kidney.
The Busted singer, 41, revealed on Spotify that doctors had given him only a few years to live before the transplant. He first hinted at serious health problems last July in a post on X, where he told followers he would share updates via his Spotify bio while stepping away from Instagram.
“As I’m taking a break from the gram, I’ll be posting an update soon about what’s going on with my health in my Spotify bio,” he wrote at the time. “It’s a long story. Still not out of the woods yet. Thanks for your support and patience.”
Now, six months after announcing major surgery, Bourne has detailed the full scope of his crisis. “Wow, what the hell happened? One minute you’re heading out on tour, the next thing you know you’re on the bench and out of the game,” he wrote on Spotify. “My condition was serious and the doctors told me I had a few years left to live.”
He credited Chris with rescuing him twice over, noting that his brother had already stepped in to cover his place on tour. “My brother is a hero,” Bourne wrote. “Saved my life yet again. This time quite literally by donating me one of his kidneys.”
The health emergency first became public last September when Bourne pulled out of the Busted vs McFly tour with just 24 hours’ notice. He apologized to fans then, saying he was “not in good enough health” to perform, and thanked his girlfriend and family for standing by him.
Chris Bourne immediately filled the gap, replacing his older brother on guitar alongside Charlie Simpson and Matt Willis, the band’s two other original members. Matt Willis later said the substitution came together in a rush. “We were talking to him, and he was like, ‘You should still do it, I just can’t be there’,” Willis recalled. “It was a really difficult time for us. It all happened so quickly.”
Willis made plain how much the lineup change rattled the group. “It was strange; it was weird. I don’t ever want to do it again,” he said, adding that he had “never done a show without James.”
Bourne resurfaced in April this year to announce he was facing surgery that could “extend life.” He expressed hope the procedure would make him “well enough” to return to music. “It really sucks to be out of the game. But there is hope,” he wrote.
Despite the ordeal, Bourne pushed ahead with a long-gestating creative project. He released “Murder At The Gates,” a soundtrack to a musical he wrote with Steven Sater, on July 1. He said in June that he refused to let his condition derail the rollout. “I didn’t want my health to stop me from promoting this project because I’ve put 13 years of my life into it,” he said. “There was a fear of not finishing it. But I knew I had to finish it and give this to the people.”
Bourne reported that both he and Chris are recovering well from the transplant operation. “I can’t believe how much better I’m starting to feel already,” he wrote on Spotify. “I’m still going to need some time, but I wanted you to know that we’re both recovering from surgery just fine.”