In the midst of a torrid hot streak, IGA topper John Janick sat down with Variety’s Shirley Halperin to candidly discuss his frightening ordeal, after doctors discovered a brain tumor last fall. As he revealed, it wasn’t his first brush with the Big C.

“I discovered in October 2012 that I had cancer—a very early stage and one of the most treatable forms of cancer,” Janick said. “I had surgery then had the option to have chemo or monitor to see if it spread. There was about a 65% chance if I monitored that I would never have to get chemo. I chose to monitor and unfortunately last October the cancer showed up in a lymph node. Again it was a very early stage. The doctor wanted me to get an MRI of my head also, and they discovered a benign tumor unrelated to the cancer. I did nine weeks of chemo for the cancer, then recuperated for four months and had the brain surgery to remove the pituitary adenoma. I’ve had two scans since finishing the chemo, and the cancer has been killed… They got it out and, knock on wood, it’s good. My hair is growing back, and I’m not as pasty as I was.

“I didn’t want to hide it, but I wasn’t going to make it a big deal. So I brought in my key staff and tried to make it as positive as I could. Being in this business, you don’t want to be vulnerable in any way. For the company and for me personally, I’d rather people know that I’m not invincible, [even though] my mentality is to just power through things and get through it with work.”

Janick deserves major props for his courage both in battling the disease and talking about the ordeal so openly. He’s a great label head and an even better guy. We’re rooting for him big time.

Read the rest of the interview here.