Kim Clarke Champniss, a familiar face on MuchMusic in the ‘80s and ‘90s and a respected voice on the Canadian music scene, has gone public with his battle with throat cancer.
“I have lost my natural voice forever,” Champniss, 64, explained in a Facebook post this week. “I have no voice at all for two months. Then a voice prosthesis will be added to my throat. My voice will be a horse whisper but I will be alive all being well.”
Champniss said “radical surgery” was the only option. Surgeons had to “pull out my voice-box and my swallow tube” in order to remove the egg-sized tumour.
The former TV personality who interviewed some of the biggest music acts in the world said he hopes to be released from the Toronto General Hospital soon.
“Hopefully I will be back entertaining you all very soon,” he vowed. In a subsequent Facebook message, Champniss showed that he hasn’t lost his sense of humour.
“With no voice, but with a love of theatrics and facial expressions as my allies, I have become the Mr Bean of the Canadian music industry,” he wrote.
On Facebook, KCC is receiving well wishes from friends in Canada’s music and media communities, including former MuchMusic colleagues like Denise Donlon and Michael Williams, musicians like Wolf Hassel and Jay Semko, model-actress Monika Schnarre, and fellow TV host Stu Jeffries.
“Keep up the good fight,” wrote Platinum Blonde frontman Mark Holmes. “You got lots to write about. Sending light and love.”
A former child actor in his native England, Champniss – or KCC as he is known – worked as a DJ upon arriving in Canada and managed pop band Images In Vogue. He joined MuchMusic in the golden age of music videos, appearing on Rockflash and The New Music.
Champniss later focused on TV production and hosting and he wrote books, including 2017’s Skinheads, Fur Traders & DJs. Last year, he won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing in a Lifestyle or Reality Show for his work on the Juno Awards broadcast.
He’s currently based in Niagara Falls.