National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

Longtime BBC broadcaster Charlie Gillett—host of the weekly world music program Sound of the World—announced that he will be stepping away from the popular Saturday evening show due to a recent illness.

According to a May 27th post by Gillett on his website, he was hospitalized Thursday, May 18th for numbness in the feet, and was subsequently diagnosed with Churg-Strauss Syndome, an auto-immune disorder. He was released from St Thomas's Hospital in London shortly thereafter and is currently undergoing treatment.

Gillett's post went on to say: "...I have had to take a major decision. I have informed the management at BBC London that I will no longer be able to do the Saturday Night show. I am hopeful that I will be able to present the live broadcast from WOMAD at the end of the July, but that will be it. Gerry Lyseight has kindly agreed to cover most of the Saturdays till then. After that, I don't know what will happen - it's for the management to decide what to do with that two hour space on Saturday nights, not me.

"This forum's readership will understand better than most that this is not an easy decision for me to take. But I can only confirm that there are no circumstances in which I could go consider going back to doing the show again. I am optimistic that I will be able to continue doing the World Service programmes, which is so much simpler on so many levels."

Gillett has been a fixture on the radio on London since 1972, and has hosted Sound of the World for over 10 years. He was an early and enthusiastic champion of world music, introducing adventerous listeners to such world music luminaries as Tinariwen, Youssou N'Dour and Mariza, on both his Saturday program and his weekly "World of Music" broadcasts for the BBC World Service.

Gillett also has a long and storied music career outside the broadcasters' booth, first making a name for himself in 1970 with the publication of The Sound of the City, a history of early rock'n'roll. As the founder of UK-based Oval records, Gillet managed and recorded more than a few prominent pop artists—most notably Ian Drury—and is credited with discovering Dire Straits. Since 2000 Gillett has also produced an annual world music compilation series for Britain's Wrasse record label.