What Happened to Yellowman’s Face? Inside the Details of the Dancehall Star
With a career that spans over 50 years and dating back to the mid-70s, Grammy nominee Yellowman is a very well-respected figure in Jamaican music.
Updated Nov. 14 2025, 11:47 a.m. ET
In the world of reggae and dancehall, Yellowman is one of its most legendary acts. With a career that spans over 50 years and dating back to the mid-'70s, the Grammy nominee is a very well-respected figure in Jamaican music.
Aside from his music, many are often curious about what caused Yellowman’s facial disfigurement. Let’s go inside the details of exactly what happened.
What happened to Yellowman’s face?
In 1982, at the height of his career, Yellowman (born Winston Foster) was diagnosed with skin cancer. After being in remission for a period of time, he was informed in 1986 that the skin cancer had returned and spread to his jaw, according to Face2Face Africa.
Yellowman then underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his jaw, and at the same time, was incorrectly told he only had six months to live.
The surgery was successful in removing his skin cancer; however, it left his face permanently disfigured. A large portion of the left side of his lower jaw had to be removed to extract the tumor.
In a 2025 interview, Yellowman shared what has kept him healthy 40 years after his initial surgery.
“Well, when the doctor told me I had two years to survive, I didn’t take it serious,” he told KGNU. “I just went ahead and lived the way I always lived. God give me life. Your thinking can be a healing, you know.”
Throughout his career, Yellowman has worked with many legendary artists and achieved great success.
He received his first Grammy Award nomination for Best Reggae Album in 1985 and a second nomination in the same category three years later, in 1988. Yellowman was the first dancehall artist in Grammy history to be nominated in the category.
His musical collaborations run the gamut and include high-profile artists such as Run-DMC. Yellowman’s most popular song “Zungguzungguguzungguzeng,” has been sampled dozens of times in the hip-hop community, by the likes of 2Pac, Junior M.A.F.I.A., and Joe Budden.
Yellowman also recently shared how music saved him growing up as an orphan, and why he decided to shift away from violence in his music.
“I find comfort in everything, everybody,” he shared with The Positive Community in May 2025. “Even when they hit me. Because I’m an orphan, I don’t know my parents, I been growing up in orphanage home all through my child days. I’m comfortable with everybody. I’m comfortable with God. I’m comfortable with music.”
Yellowman got candid about how he chooses positivity in his life, which has been filled with hardships, instead of reacting with anger.
“It’s better to make somebody happy than upset,” he told the outlet. “I don’t think about stress. I don’t think about negative things. I’m always thinking the positive around me. I always move forward. I never move backward.”
“Even when it’s bad, I’m good,” Yellowman continued. “When you think about stress, that's when it gets worse. Stress is like a medication: when you take medication it gets worse. Sometime it works, sometime it don’t.”