A St Albans musician who has survived three different types of cancer has released an album which he hopes will raise thousands of pounds for Cancer Research UK.

Alex Scott, 65, enlisted the help of 14 local artists to record the album with the aim of raising much-needed funds for the charity that is close to his heart.

Dad-of-two and grandad of one Alex knows how vital research is, having faced three tough encounters with cancer in the last 30 years.

In 1989 a lump on his neck turned out to be Hodgkins lymphoma, a form of blood cancer, which required Alex, then 34, to undergo six months of chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy.

He said: “This proved to be the most challenging period of my life. It was very tough. Our children were young and I was very sick – we didn’t know what the outcome would be. I ran a printing company at the time and was forced to close. But as a family we stuck together and came through it.”

But 2014 brought a second blow, as Alex was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma – a form of skin cancer – which had developed on the scarred area on his neck.

Less than one year later Alex, an entrepreneur and business consultant, was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

He underwent surgery to have his prostate gland removed, but further tests revealed the cancer had spread and Alex underwent an extended course of radiotherapy.

Alex, who lives with wife Julia, 63, in Bricket Wood, said: “I was shocked to get that diagnosis and it felt like a case of ‘here we go again’. The operation brought its own complications, but I have learnt to live with them and have simply got on with life.

“I now try and live for the day. It’s about appreciating what you do have.

“I’ve always been of the way that if you got knocked down you have to pull yourself up again, you cannot let something roll over you.

In 2006 he recorded a country album which he took to Nashville in the hope of being signed, before returning home and signing a record deal to get it released.

It was using that platform that Alex went on to record many more songs and albums, of varying genres.

His latest venture, For Folks Sake, Sing Out Beat Up Cancer, was recorded in studios in St Albans and was completed just before the lockdown. It features 14 local artists who have put their own interpretation on songs written by Alex for the album.

Proceeds from sales of the album will go to Cancer Research UK.

Alex said: “I am still here, still healthy and I am at an age where I can now give something back.

“I feel privileged and blessed in many ways and to be able to use a talent I have to raise money and awareness of the vital need for research into cancer feels deeply satisfying.

“It broke my heart to see the effect COVID has had on Cancer Research UK which has already lost £160m this year. We cannot afford to let research into this dreadful disease be a casualty of this virus. It has come such a long way in the last 30 years, but we need to keep progressing, keep developing new and better treatments that will help people like me in the future.”

Cally Cardines, fundraising manager for Hertfordshire, said: “We are enormously grateful to Alex for all his support at a time when we need it more than ever. As a result of the pandemic, Cancer Research UK has been forced to make unavoidable cuts to its life-saving research. “We hope that the people of Hertfordshire and beyond get behind Alex and buy a copy or download the album so that together we can still beat cancer.”

To buy the album visit http://smarturl.it/2ab76b