THE MC of Port Isaac-based Fisherman’s Friends is having to take time out from singing due to intermittent fainting spells over the last four years.

Jon Cleave wrote on their website last week to address why he hadn’t accompanied the Fisherman’s Friends in their last few performances.

He said: “Regretfully I’ve been advised to temporarily hang up the ole moustache and step back from performances for the next few months (advised by a doctor not a music lover, in case anyone was wondering!). I’ve suffered from intermittent faints for the last four years and need to get it all sorted out.

“Hopefully I will get a speedy diagnosis for whatever it is. I know you’ll all enjoy our performances in Port Isaac and elsewhere this summer as much as ever, and I hope to return to the fray with the boys sooner rather than later.”

The Fisherman’s Friends have wished him a speedy recovery.

Bound together by lifelong friendship and shared experience for more than 25 years the Fisherman’s Friends have met on the Platt (harbour) in their native Port Isaac to raise money for charity, singing the traditional songs of the sea handed down to them by their forefathers.

In 2010 they signed a major record deal and their album ‘Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends’ went Gold as they became the first traditional folk act to land a UK top ten album. Since then they’ve been the subject of an ITV documentary, released the hit albums One and All (2013) and Proper Job (2015) and played to hundreds of thousands of fans at home and abroad.

They sang for The Queen at her Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012, they were selected to sing for Prince Charles and Camilla during their 2016 tour of Cornwall and were honoured with the Good Tradition Award at the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2011.

The Fisherman’s Friends have been widely credited with starting the revival of interest in shanty-style choral singing but a cornerstone of their success has been their constantly evolving and expanding repertoire.

Their next live performances will be at Carnglaze Caverns on July 14 and 15, starting at 8pm, followed by ‘singing on the Platt’ (weather permitting) at Port Isaac on July 21 from 7.30pm.