American country singer-songwriter Toby Keith has died at age 62. Keith, who was battling stomach cancer, passed peacefully on Monday, February 5, 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 2022.
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 worked as a roughneck in the oil fields of Oklahoma as a young man, then played semi-pro football before launching his career as a singer.
"I write about life, and I sing about life, and I don't overanalyze things," Keith told Tthe Associated Press in 2001, following the success of his song "I'm Just Talking About Tonight."
Keith learned good lessons in the booming oil fields, which toughened him up but also showed him the value of money. But the domestic oil field industry collapsed and Keith had not saved. Eventually, his path took him to Nashville, where he 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. 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 the 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!"
Keith often wore his politics on his sleeve, especially after the terrorist attacks on US soil in 2001, and early on said he was a conservative Democrat, but later claimed he was an independent. He 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.
After Universal Music Group acquired DreamWorks, Keith started anew again, starting his own record label, Show Dog, in 2005 with record executive Scott Borchetta, who launched his own label Big Machine at the same time. 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.