Country star Toby Keith, known for his funny, irreverent songs and devil-may-care attitude toward the powers that be in the country music industry, along with his intense patriotism and willingness to work that patriotic attitude into his music, has passed away. Keith had been battling stomach cancer, though until recently it appeared that he had turned the corner.
His passing was announced in a graphic posted to X (formerly Twitter). It showed a picture of him in his heyday and noted that he passed away while surrounded by his family members, saying, “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.”
Commenting on the post, many people left their condolences and comments about their experiences with Keith. One, for example, said, “I saw him perform at Kandahar Air Field, just him and one backup singer. He was clearly exhausted from traveling all the bases but still wanted to give us a good show, which he did. God bless you, sir. Thank you for caring. Rest easy.”
Similarly, another commenter wrote, “RIP to a TRUE Legend, one of the BEST to ever do it, and a die-hard BADASS Patriot who loved his country FIERCELY. 🫡
You are now with Jesus, in a much, MUCH better place. 🙏🏻”
Still others added things like “Toby raised millions for kids with cancer. Having a little boy who survived it, I can’t thank you enough, Cowboy. Rest in peace now, your pain is over” and “He rallied a nation with his songs, they were defiant, moving and fun. Great entertainer, saw him a couple of times and it was a blast. “Should Have Been a Cowboy” is my favorite. Rest in Peace Toby Keith.”
“March 2003. I was 7 months pregnant, my daughter was 19 months old, and my husband was 7,000 miles away in Iraq. Toby’s “Red, White & Blue” got me through many rough days. I would blare it on the cd player & my daughter and I would dance around the living room. I can’t express enough how much he helped my mental health with that song. Toby encouraged me when times got too hard. That song was my mantra.
I am forever grateful. My love to his family 💔,” wrote another.
Making the news all the sadder is that it recently appeared that Keith was on the path to recovery after his stomach cancer battle. He even appeared for a few concerts and, commenting on them, said that the main issue was that he had to get his diaphragm back in shape for belting out his glorious tunes.
“The thing I had to overcome—the surgery I had on my stomach they had to stitch on my diaphragm. Not using it to sing every night, that is a muscle. So I had to really work that to get it where I sing really really hard and really really violent and loud, I didn’t have that last 10 percent on the bottom where I could just belt anything. Like when I sang ‘McArthur Park’ at Carnegie Hall, it’s like opera stuff. So, I don’t know if I could do that, but what I do on stage is no problem,” he said.
Featured image credit: By Thomas Powell – Edwards Air Force Base. Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Kelly using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4381597