Trevor Nelson reveals brain tumour diagnosis that 'turned his world upside-down'

Radio DJ Trevor Nelson has revealed he is recovering from a brain tumour.

Nelson has now explained that his hiatus was due to the tumour, which “turned his world upside-down”.

”A lot of you may have seen the post that I put up at the start of summer, saying that I was stepping back from all my work commitments due to illness,” he told fans in a video on Instagram on Thursday.

“There’s been a lot of speculation as to what’s wrong with me, I know that much. My phone’s blown up 20 times over with people asking what’s wrong with me.”

Trevor Nelson revealed he had a brain tumour

Instagram

He added: “Due to the love and the positive vibes, thousands of you have been sending me, I felt that I should at least tell you what is wrong with me and what happened to me.”

Nelson said he didn’t want to share all the details now, but might “deep dive” into it later so fans could hear the “whole crazy story”.

“I’ll tell you this, I was minding my own business and then it was discovered that I had a brain tumour,” he recalled. “As you can imagine, I was shocked. In fact, my world was turned upside down.”

The broadcaster said his head was “quite literally all over the place”, but he knew he had to take a break from work.

Nelson confirmed he had “very serious surgery” that went well and has been spending the last month recovering and getting post operation treatment.

Nelson pictured with his special Tric award in June

PA

”I can only tell you the truth. I feel great right now, I feel ready to come back. I feel energised and almost back to myself,” he added.

“I’ve had a really serious situation but I’ve come out the other side and I feel great. I feel raring to go. I feel in good health.”

He captioned the clip: “I’m feeling good. I will be back to work very soon. To radio first and later to my DJ gigs. Thank you for all your messages, your love and your support.”

In June, the R&B icon had said he was stepping back from Radio 2 to udergo “further tests after a routine check-up” and was “concentrating on getting better”.

Nelson’s colleagues offered their support at the time, with Melvin Odoom writing, “Sending love and positive vibes Trev,” and Anita Rani posting: “Sending love. Rest and heal Trevor. X.”

Earlier that week Nelson was at the Television and Radio Industries Club (Tric) Awards, where he won the Judge’s Special Recognition Award.

In February, Nelson celebrated 30 years at the BBC - including on 1 Xtra - where he has championed R&B music in the UK.

A slew of celebrities congratulated the DJ on the milestone moment, including Alicia Keys, Lemar, Eve, Jessie J, Nile Rodgers, Craig David, Sade, Jessie Ware and Stephen Graham, with Sir Lenny Henry performing Happy Birthday as part of the celebrations.

Nile Rodgers thanked Nelson for his long-running support at the BBC, while Sade described him as an inspiration who had “gone the distance”.

In January 2019, Trevor Nelson’s Rhythm Nation launched on Radio 2 and aired four days a week, before he moved to the weekday afternoon show in 2025, replacing Scott Mills.