Remembering 2025’s Music Losses: Mike Peters

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This is where you wrinkle your nose at me. You think about pop stars who died in 2025 and then look at what I’m highlighting. Yeah, that’s my weird world. Here’s another musician we said goodbye to last year…one you may remember for one song, maybe. Mike Peters, MBE The “one song” would be “Rain in the Summertime.” Mike Peters was the lead singer and primary songwriter for the band The Alarm. “Rain in the Summertime” was their biggest hit in America. In the UK, their biggest chart success was “Sixty Eight Guns.” I loved The Alarm. I was in the minority. The problem was that they were usually compared with U2, often disparagingly (a poor man’s version of U2). Like U2, The Alarm had a mixture of song themes that included political (“Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke,” “Blaze of Glory”). U2 won the battle, and The Alarm broke up in the early 90s. Peters went on to solo work and performing with other bands, including fronting Big Country after Stuart Adamson’s death. In 1995, Peters was initially diagnosed with cancer (myeloma). Although that cancer was defeated, he was later found to also have chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He turned his personal battle into a national one, founding the Love Hope Strength Foundation to raise funds and awareness for cancer and leukemia. One of the coolest things he did was organize a concert with other musicians who were cancer survivors. Held at a Mount Everest base camp, it was the highest-altitude concert performed. His work in cancer awareness earned him the MBE from Queen Elizabeth in 2019. Eventually the leukemia re-emerged, weakening him and eventually taking his life in April. His music may not be well remembered, but his dedication to fighting cancer will stand as his lasting legacy long after the last notes of the song fades. Mike Peters, MBE Born Michael Leslie Peters, February 25, 1959, Rhyl, Wales Died April 29, 2025, Dyserth, Wales (leukemia) (age 66) “Rain in the Summertime” by The Alarm: