Eighteen months after country music icon Toby Keith revealed he had stomach cancer, his official website and social media accounts announced his death early Tuesday.
He was 62 years old.
The “Should Have Been a Cowboy” singer died Monday night, surrounded by his family, the singer said in a brief statement. “He fought his battles with grace and courage,” she added.
Keith announced in June 2022 that he had cancer, and spoke out about the “rollercoaster” experience of treatment in September last year.
“When you have a good day, you know, it's up and down, up and down. It's always zero to 60, 60 to zero, but today I feel good,” Keith told E! News ahead of winning the Country Icon Award at the People's Choice Country Awards.
Keith continued to record and perform during his illness, performing live for three nights in Las Vegas in December. Keith looked thin but had a good voice, and he sang many of his 32 No. 1 hits and 42 Top 10 hits, according to his official website.
“Three sold-out shows in Las Vegas was a great way to end the year,” he wrote on Instagram.
In June 2022, Keith said he was undergoing chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery. He told The Oklahoman last year that his tumor had shrunk by one-third.
Born in Clinton, Oklahoma, and raised in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, Keith emerged as a country artist in the early 1990s and went on to become an icon of the genre. Depending on various estimates, he has sold between his 25 million and 30 million records in the United States, and his songs have been played more than his 10 billion times on digital streaming.
Their latest album, “100% Songwriter,'' was released in November.
His first single, “Should've Been a Cowboy”, was written in a motel bathroom in Dodge City, Kansas.
The song, from his self-titled debut album, was released in 1993 and rose to the top of the country charts in the United States and Canada, remaining one of the most played songs on radio throughout the 1990s and beyond. Ta.
Other hits include “Beer for My Horses,” a duet with Willie Nelson, “I Love This Bar,” and “Red Solo Cup.”
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