Country music legend Toby Keith dies aged 62 following cancer battle

Country music star Toby Keith has died at the age of 62 following a battle with stomach cancer.

Toby Keith

Toby Keith has died at the age of 62.

The country music legend - who was known for hits like 'How Do You Like Me Now?!' and 'Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue' - was diagnosed with stomach cancer in autumn 2021 and lost his battle with the disease on Monday (05.02.024), a post to his social media page has confirmed.

A statement posted to his X/Twitter page read: "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,’ the message read, giving no further details."

The 'Should've Been a Cowboy' hitmaker is survived by his wife Tricia Lucus - who he had been married to since 1984 - and their children Shelley, 44, Krystal, 38, and 27-year-old son Stelen.

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The singer had planned to step away from music to focus on undergoing surgery as well as rounds of chemo and radiation therapy but made a triumphant return to the stage last July, where he played two shows in his home state of Oklahoma over the Independence Day weekend.

Just months after his diagnosis, Toby admitted that he had found that cancer had been "pretty debilitating" but was still hopeful for the future.

Speaking on 'CMT Hot 20', he said: "said: “I’m thinking about getting back into fighting shape. “It’s pretty debilitating to have to go through all that, but as long as everything stays hunky-dory, then we’ll look at something good in the future I need a little bit of time to just rest up and heal up.”

Toby had built up a small following as a Busker in Tennesee and constantly tried to get record executives to show interest in his demo tape, to no avail.

But his fortunes changed when a flight attendant and fan noticed Harold Shedd, a Mercury Records executive on a plane and passed the tape onto him, which led to him landing his first record deal and he released his debut album in 1993.

In total, Toby has released 19 studio albums and sold more than 40 million records worldwide.