Toby Keith dies: Country star was battling abdomen most cancers

Toby Keith, a hit nation crafter of pro-American anthems who each riled up critics and was liked by thousands and thousands of followers, has died. He was 62.

The “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” singer-songwriter, who had abdomen most cancers, died peacefully Monday surrounded by his household, in accordance with a press release posted on the nation singer’s web site. “He fought his fight with grace and courage,” the assertion stated. He introduced his most cancers analysis in 2022.

The 6-foot-4 singer broke out within the nation growth years of the Nineties, writing songs that followers liked to listen to. Over his profession he publicly clashed with different celebrities and journalists and sometimes pushed again towards document executives who wished to clean his tough edges.

He was recognized for his overt patriotism on put up 9/11 songs like “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,” and boisterous barroom tunes like “I Love This Bar” and “Red Solo Cup.” He had a strong booming voice, a tongue-in-cheek humorousness and vary that carried love songs in addition to ingesting songs.

Among his 20 No. 1 Billboard hits have been “How Do You Like Me Now?!,” “As Good As I Once Was,” “My List” and “Beer for My Horses,” a duet with Willie Nelson. His influences have been different working class songwriters like Merle Haggard and he tallied greater than 60 singles on the Hot Country chart over his profession.

Throughout the most cancers remedies, Keith continued to carry out, most lately taking part in in Las Vegas in December. He additionally carried out on the People’s Choice Country Awards in 2023 as he sang his music “Don’t Let the Old Man In.”

“Cancer is a roller coaster,” he advised KWTV throughout an interview aired final month. “You just sit here and wait on it to go away. It might never go away.”

Keith labored as a roughneck within the oil fields of Oklahoma as a young man, then performed semi-pro soccer earlier than launching his profession as a singer.

“I write about life, and I sing about life, and I don’t overanalyze things,” Keith advised The Associated Press in 2001, following the success of his music “I’m Just Talking About Tonight.”

Keith discovered good classes within the booming oil fields, which toughened him up, but in addition confirmed him the worth of money.

“The money to be made was unbelievable,” Keith advised the AP in 1996. “I came out of high school in 1980 and they gave me this job December of 1979, $50,000 a year. I was 18 years old.”

But the home oil discipline business collapsed and Keith had not saved. “It about broke us,” he stated. “So I just learned. I’ve taken care of my money this time.”

He spent a pair seasons as a defensive finish for the Oklahoma City Drillers, a farm group for the now-defunct United States Football League. But he discovered constant money taking part in music along with his band all through the purple grime roadhouse circuit in Oklahoma and Texas.

“All through this whole thing the only constant thing we had was music,” he stated. “But it’s hard to sit back and say, ‘I’m going to go make my fortune singing music, or writing music.’ I had no contacts.”

Eventually his path took him to Nashville, the place he attracted the curiosity of Mercury Records head Harold Shedd, who was finest referred to as a producer for the hit group Alabama. Shedd introduced him to Mercury, the place he launched his platinum debut document “Toby Keith,” in 1993.

“Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” his breakout hit, was performed 3 million instances on radio stations, making it essentially the most performed nation music of the Nineties.

But the label’s deal with world star Shania Twain overshadowed the remainder of the roster and Keith felt that the executives have been making an attempt to push him in a pop route.

“They were trying to get me to compromise, and I was living a miserable existence,” Keith advised the AP. “Everybody was trying to mold me into something I was not.”

After a sequence of albums that produced hits like “Who’s That Man,” and a canopy of Sting’s “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying,” Keith moved to DreamWorks Records in 1999.

That’s when his multiweek hit “How Do You Like Me Now?!” took off and have become his first music to cross over to Top 40 charts. In 2001, he received the male vocalist of the yr and album of the yr on the Academy of Country Music Awards, exclaiming from the stage: “I’ve waited a long time for this. Nine years!”

Keith typically wore his politics on his sleeve, particularly after the terrorist assaults on U.S. soil in 2001, and early on he stated he was a conservative Democrat, however later claimed he was an unbiased. He performed at occasions for Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, the latter giving him a National Medal of the Arts in 2021. His songs and his blunt opinions generally brought about him controversy, which he appeared to court docket.

His 2002 music “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” included a risk — “We’ll put a boot in your ass — It’s the American way” — to anybody who dared to mess with America.

That music obtained pulled from a patriotic ABC Fourth of July particular after producers deemed it too offended for the present. Singer-songwriter Steve Earle referred to as Keith’s music “pandering to people’s worst instincts at a time they are hurt and scared.”

Then there was the feud between Keith and The Chicks (previously referred to as the Dixie Chicks), who grew to become a goal of Keith’s ire when singer Natalie Maines advised a crowd that they have been ashamed of then-President George W. Bush. Maines had additionally beforehand referred to as Keith’s music “ignorant.”

Keith, who had beforehand claimed that he supported any artist’s freedom to voice their opinion about politics, used a doctored picture of Maines with a picture of Saddam Hussein at his live shows, additional ramping up offended followers.

Maines responded by carrying a shirt with the letters “FUTK” onstage on the 2003 ACM Awards, which many individuals believed was a vulgar message to Keith.

Keith, who had acknowledged that he holds onto grudges, walked out of the ACM Awards in 2003 early as a result of he had gotten snubbed in earlier classes, inflicting him to overlook out when he was introduced as entertainer of the yr. Vince Gill accepted on his behalf. He got here again the following yr and received the highest prize for a second yr in a row, together with prime male vocalist and album of the yr for “Shock ’n Y’all.”

His pro-military stance wasn’t simply fodder for songs, nevertheless. He went on 11 USO excursions to go to and play for troops serving abroad. He additionally helped to boost thousands and thousands for charity over his profession, together with building a home in Oklahoma City for youths with most cancers and their households.

After Universal Music Group acquired DreamWorks, Keith began anew once more, beginning his personal document label, Show Dog, in 2005 with document government Scott Borchetta, who launched his personal label Big Machine on the identical time.

“Probably 75% of the people in this town think I’ll fail, and the other 25% hope I fail,” he stated that yr.

Later the label grew to become Show Dog-Universal Music and had Keith, Trace Adkins, Joe Nichols, Josh Thompson, Clay Walker and Phil Vassar on its roster.

His later hits included “Love Me If You Can,” “She Never Cried In Front of Me,” and “Red Solo Cup.” He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.

He was honored by the efficiency rights organization BMI in November 2022 with the BMI Icon award, a number of months after asserting his abdomen most cancers analysis.

“I always felt like that the songwriting was the most important part of this whole industry,” Keith advised the group of fellow singers and writers.