“Toby Keith passed peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by his family. He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time.” That was the statement posted to the country singer’s website and social media on Tuesday morning. Keith was 62, and stomach cancer had killed him.
Elaine Schock, his publicist since 2003, confirmed the death to CNN. He leaves his wife, Tricia, and three children, Shelley, Krystal and Stelen, along with his mother and two siblings.
Treatment, and back on stage
Keith revealed his diagnosis in 2022. “I’ve spent the last six months receiving chemo, radiation and surgery. So far, so good,” he said in a statement then. “I need time to breathe, recover and relax. I am looking forward to spending time with my family. But I will see the fans sooner than later.”
He did. He played shows in Las Vegas, and his last one was there in December. In September 2023 he performed at the People’s Choice Country Awards and took home the Country Icon Award. Earlier in the month he died, he posted a video of advice for songwriters. “Just toil away every day,” he said. Most of his catalog came from writing at least four or five days a week, he explained: “You gotta have volume, you gotta have practice, and you gotta keep your chops up, and you gotta stay in the middle of the game.”
The songs and the controversy
His debut album came out in 1993. “Red Solo Cup,” “I Wanna Talk About Me” and “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” are among his best-known songs. It was the 2002 release “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)”, written after the 9/11 attacks, that made him a household name. His final album, “Peso in My Pocket,” arrived in 2021.
That song also started a feud. Natalie Maines of The Chicks, then the Dixie Chicks, called it “ignorant”. Keith replied that she did not know what she was talking about because she was “not a songwriter”, and for a while he joked about the dispute at concerts with fake images of Maines alongside Saddam Hussein. He told Contact Music in 2003 that learning a good friend’s daughter had died of cancer made him say “enough is enough”. “It seemed so insignificant,” he said of the clash.
Troops and presidents
Keith played hundreds of shows for US service members abroad, including in Afghanistan and Iraq. At some concerts he gave wheelchairs to wounded veterans. He also performed at events for Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. A self-described third-generation Democrat, he told CNN in 2010 that his support for the troops had nothing to do with politics: “There’s not one single thing political about supporting the troops.”
In 2021, Trump presented him with the National Medal of Arts, which the National Endowment for the Arts calls “the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government.” In 2019 Keith had defended his decision to perform at Trump’s inauguration. “Going to a president’s inauguration, no matter who it is, that’s what you’re supposed to do,” he told Fox News.
Schock told People magazine that Keith was “misunderstood” because he was “painted a certain way,” which she called an incorrect portrait. “He was certainly one of the most courageous men I knew,” she said. “I’m not quite sure how to maneuver in a world without Toby yet.”
Sources
- Renowned country singer Toby Keith dies at 62 after battle with stomach cancer
- Toby Keith was ‘misunderstood’ because he was ‘painted in a certain way,’ rep says after his death
- Country singer Toby Keith dies at 62 after battle with stomach cancer | CNN
