Global News Desk:
"Singer-Songwriter Toby
Keith, Famous for 'Beer For My Horses,' Passes Away at 62.
Keith, who was battling stomach
cancer, passed peacefully on Monday surrounded by his family, according to a
statement posted on the country singer's website. "He fought his fight
with grace and courage," the statement said. He was diagnosed in 2021.
Keith revealed his diagnosis in a
June 2022 Instagram post, noting he "spent the last 6 months receiving
chemo, radiation and surgery."
"So far, so good," he
wrote at the time. "I need time to breathe, recover and relax. I am
looking forward to spending this time with my family. But I will see the fans
sooner than later. I can't wait."
He was in similarly good spirits
at the People's Choice Country Awards, where he received the 2023 Country Icon
award in September. "It's a little bit of a roller coaster. You get good
days and, you know, you're up and down, up and down," Keith told E! News.
"It's always zero to 60 and 60 to zero, but I feel good."
Keith returned to performing late
last year, including dual Las Vegas "rehab" shows, as he referred to
them, to allow him to get reacquainted with performing.
Sometimes a polarizing figure in
country music, the 6-foot-4 singer broke out in the country boom years of the
1990s, crafting an identity around his macho, pro-American swagger and writing
songs that fans loved to hear. Over his career he publicly clashed with other
celebrities and journalists and often pushed back against record executives who
wanted to smooth his rough edges.
He was known for his overt
patriotism on post 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 powerful booming voice, a tongue-in-cheek
sense of humor and range that carried love songs as well as drinking songs.
Among his 20 No. 1 Billboard hits
were "How Do You Like Me Now?!," "Should've Been a Cowboy,"
"As Good As I Once Was," "My List" and "Beer for My
Horses," a duet with Willie Nelson.
Keith attracted the interest of
Mercury Records head Harold Shedd, who was best known as a producer for the hit
group Alabama. Shedd brought him to Mercury, where he released his platinum debut
record "Toby Keith," in 1993.
"Should've Been a
Cowboy," his breakout hit, was played 3 million times on radio stations,
making it the most played country song of the 1990s.
But the label's focus on global
star Shania Twain overshadowed the rest of the roster and Keith felt that the
executives were trying to push him in a pop direction.
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"They were trying to get me
to compromise, and I was living a miserable existence," Keith told the AP.
"Everybody was trying to mold me into something I was not."
After a series of albums that
produced hits like "Who's That Man," and cover of Sting's "I'm
So Happy I Can't Stop Crying," Keith moved to DreamWorks Records in 1999.
That's when his multi-week
"How Do You Like Me Now?!" took off and became his first song to
crossover to Top 40 charts. In 2001, he won the male vocalist of the year and
album of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards, exclaiming from the
stage: "I've waited a long time for this. Nine years!"
Songs like "I Wanna Talk About
Me," a spoken-word song written by Bobby Braddock about a man frustrated
by a talkative partner, got him attention for its similarity to the cadence of
rap, which Keith dismissed. "They're going to call it a rap song,
(although) there ain't nobody doing rap who would call it rap," he told
"Billboard" magazine in 2001.
Keith often wore his politics on
his sleeve, especially after the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in 2001, and
early on he said was a conservative Democrat, but later claimed he was an independent.
He's played at events 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 sometimes caused him controversy, which he seemed to
court.
His 2002 song, "Courtesy of
the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" included a
threat—"We'll put a boot in your ass – It's the American way" – to
anyone who dared to mess with America.
That song got pulled from a
patriotic ABC Fourth of July special after producers deemed it too angry for
the show. Singer-songwriter Steve Earle called Keith's song "pandering to
people's worst instincts at a time they are hurt and scared."
Then there was the feud between
Keith and The Chicks (formerly called the Dixie Chicks), who became a target of
Keith's ire when singer Natalie Maines told a crowd that they were ashamed of
then President George W. Bush. Maines had also previously called Keith's song
"ignorant."
Keith, who had previously claimed
that he supported any artist's freedom to voice their opinion about politics,
used a doctored photo of Maines with an image of Saddam Hussein at his
concerts, further ramping up angry fans.
Maines responded by wearing a shirt
with the letters "FUTK" onstage at the 2003 ACM Awards, which many
people believed was a vulgar message to Keith.
He also publicly called out actor
Ethan Hawke, who had written a story in "Rolling Stone" that
described an argument between Kris Kristofferson and an unnamed country star
that sounded a lot like Keith. During a backstage press conference during an
awards show, Keith was furious at Hawke (and reporters for repeating the story)
for what he called a "fictitious (expletive) lie."
Keith, who has acknowledged that
he holds onto grudges, walked out of the ACM Awards in 2003 early because he
had gotten snubbed in earlier categories, causing him to miss out when he was
announced as entertainer of the year. Vince Gill accepted on his behalf. He
came back the next year and won the top prize for a second year in a row, along
with top male vocalist and album of the year for "Shock' n Y'all."
His pro-military stance wasn't
just fodder for songs, however. He went on 11 USO tours to visit and play for
troops serving overseas. He also helped to raise millions for charity over his
career, including building a home in Oklahoma City for kids and their families
who are battling cancer.
"Probably 75 percent of the
people in this town think I'll fail, and the other 25 percent hope I
fail," he said that year.
Later the label became 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 performance
rights organization BMI in November 2022 with the BMI Icon award, a few months
after announcing his stomach cancer diagnosis.
"I always felt like that the
songwriting was the most important part of this whole industry," Keith
told the crowd of fellow singers and writers. (News Source By USA Today)