Everclear frontman Art Alexakis opens up about living with multiple sclerosis for more than a decade and the early signs he missed. Courtesy of Art Alexakis
– Everclear frontman Art Alexakis is sharing his decade-long journey with multiple sclerosis.
– He was diagnosed with relapsing MS in 2016.
– He discusses his most recent treatment and other ways he cares for himself.
Art Alexakis, singer and frontman of the Grammy-nominated rock band Everclear, wrapped up a 43-show tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of the band’s album Sparkle and Fade. The anniversary was extra special for the 63-year-old rock star as he has been living with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) for 10 years.
“I’m grateful for aging. I’m grateful for the MS. It makes me try harder. I get to play so many shows a year, and having to go through airports is hard, but doing that, keeping moving and keeping working at it is one of the things that has really helped me with my gratitude and with my mental outlook,” he told Healthline. “If you try to do something and you accomplish it, it feels good. And even though it gets harder, I can still do it right now. I’m feeling pretty good.”
Alexakis was diagnosed with MS following a car accident in 2016. A few weeks after the accident, he felt a tweak in his neck and his doctor recommended an MRI. At the appointment, neurologists and a pathologist told him the MRI showed lesions on his spine and brain consistent with MS.
Once diagnosed at 54, Alexakis realized he’d had symptoms since his 20s — balance and walking issues, fatigue, strange skin sensations, and episodes of vertigo. “They thought that I had it for over 25 years just by the look of the lesions. In my 20s, I would have pretty severe vertigo. Rage is a thing. As I got older, these things became more pronounced, especially the balance and just skin feeling weird, and sometimes my arm not working well out of nowhere,” he said. “It was a blessing to me to get that diagnosis because a lot of people go through life and never get diagnosed correctly.”
His neurologist, Regina Berkovich, MD, PhD, notes a misconception that MS only occurs between ages 18 and 40. “However, we can see it in childhood and as late as senior age,” she said. “MS doesn’t follow any rules and that’s why it’s so fascinating to deal with the condition on a professional level.”
Berkovich helped Alexakis find a treatment that works for him: Tysabri, a monoclonal antibody given as an intravenous infusion. “An important learning experience I take for myself from Art’s story is that not every medication works the same for different people or even for the same person during different periods of life,” she said. “Tysabri was not his first medication, but it was definitely the one that really made the difference.”
Since the 1990s, MS care has shifted from symptom management to disease-modifying therapies that can alter long-term outcomes when applied correctly. Berkovich hopes Alexakis’ openness encourages others to seek treatment and advocate for themselves. “A lot of patients don’t feel empowered to ask questions and try different therapies, so it’s important that Art is showing the example,” she said. “His resilience, positive thinking, and trust are truly inspiring.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
Alexakis: I got on medication that worked for a while, and then I got COVID in 2021, and that medication stopped working, and that’s when I met my neurologist now, and she put me on Tysabri, and since then, it’s been really great. I get checkups twice a year, and my neurologist keeps up on it. You can’t stop [MS]. It’s a chronic disease. It’s gonna get worse, and you’ll never get rid of it. But I just feel so safe being on this treatment because I’ve seen it work over the last four years.
Alexakis: I can’t run like I used to, so I swim. I do physical therapy three times a week. I try to stay away from inflammatory foods, for the most part. And I do my treatment, my medication, and it works for me. I have to work harder, and I’m okay with that. I follow the world champion Seahawks and the world champion L.A. Dodgers, and both my teams in different cities won it all this year, so that helps me. Other than cooking and doing things with my family around the house, I don’t really have a lot of hobbies. I don’t go to clubs anymore because that’s where I work. I listen to a lot of podcasts, specifically Seahawks podcasts or Dodger podcasts, and I enjoy it. You get older, you find things you like, you find things you don’t like. Stick to the things you like, especially when they’re not bad for you.
Alexakis: One thing that’s really important to me is to just tell people if you’ve heard me and other people talk about our symptoms, what we were feeling and things that were happening to us, and if that connects with you, go see your doctor. And if your doctor tells you it’s in your head, go to a different doctor. Keep pushing till you find a diagnosis that makes sense for you.
Alexakis: I just want to be of service to people. I really do. It’s part of my program. A third of everything I do is to find ways to be of service to people. When people ask me questions about MS, and I talk about it in my shows, I talk about the fact that I have MS, and I have shoutouts for MS warriors and cancer warriors and wheelchair warriors and just anybody who is coming to shows and doing stuff in their life. Even though it’s harder, they’re doing it anyways. They deserve that kind of acknowledgement and celebration.
Alexakis: I don’t want to say I like to use my attention to do this and this. I just want to be of service to people. It’s part of the program. I have learned through my relationship with my higher power to be a force of good in this world. I’m 36, almost 37, years sober. I feel pretty confident about it because of where my head’s at and [I have] gratitude, and being of service to people is huge for me and a huge part of my program that I work every day. I am not religious at all, but I’m very spiritual, and thanks to my program and my fellowship of guys that I work with that are sober guys like me. I’m blessed. My family is like, you’re the best person when you’re working your program. I went through some periods of being sober but not working my program, and in the program, we call Dry Drunk, I went through fame. There were times when I wasn’t doing [the program].
Alexakis: Next year, we’re going to celebrate the 30th anniversary of So Much for the Afterglow. This year we’re gonna go out on tour, but we’re also in the studio. We’re making a new album. I’ve been telling people I wasn’t going to make a new album, but with what’s going on in this world, I just started writing. I use it for catharsis. Not everyone is going to like this record. I don’t care. It’s timely. Let’s just leave it at that.
