Toby Keith
Iconic country hitmaker Toby Keith died Monday night (Feb. 5) after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 62.
Keith is one of the biggest country hitmakers of the modern era, with more than 40 million albums sold and 32 No. 1 hits. His legacy includes that of a prolific songwriter, as the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee wrote 26 of his hits and 11 of those alone. Throughout his career, Keith garnered more than 10 billion streams, largely on the strength of his own songwriting and producing, and under the banner of his own record label Show Dog Nashville.
Toby Keith. Photo: Greg Watermann
Keith was also a member of the New York-based all-genre Songwriters Hall of Fame and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and the Academy of Country Music’s prestigious Merle Haggard Spirit Award.
He was diagnosed with stomach cancer in June of 2022. That fall, he received the BMI Icon Award for his songwriting legacy, and in September of 2023, he made a triumphant appearance at the Peoples Choice Country Awards, where he accepted the Country Icon award and performed the poignant “Don’t Let The Old Man In.” BMLG Records partnered with Keith following the performance to release the song to country radio, making it Keith’s last chart appearance.
At the end of 2023, Keith performed several shows in Las Vegas. Despite the challenges from his illness, he played for two hours each night.
Keith’s death was announced on his social media early Tuesday morning (Feb. 6). “Toby Keith passed peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by family. He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time,” the post shared.
Toby Keith
Keith was born in Clinton, Oklahoma on July 8, 1961. His interest in music started young, and he got his first guitar around age 8. After graduating from high school, Keith started his career in the oil fields. He and his friends formed the Easy Money Band when Keith was 20. They played at local bars as he continued to move up in rank working in oil.
After the oil industry in Oklahoma began to decline in the early ’80s, Keith fell back on another passion: football. He played defensive end with the semi-pro Oklahoma City Drillers while continuing to perform with his band. By the mid ’80s, Keith’s Easy Money band began playing the honky-tonk circuit in Oklahoma and Texas.
Keith came to Nashville in the early ’90s. Despite giving out his demo to record labels up and down Music Row, he received no interest. He made a vow to himself that he would get a record deal by the time he was 30 or he would quit. After one of Keith’s demos ended up in the hands of record executive Harold Shedd, he was signed to Mercury Records.
Keith’s first release with the label came with 1993’s “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” It was a sure-fire hit and set Keith’s path to country superstardom. He continued his first spree of hits with “He Ain’t Worth Missing,” “A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action” and “Wish I Didn’t Know Now,” all of which appeared on his debut, self-titled album.
Keith then signed with Polydor Records Nashville and released his second album, Boomtown, in 1994, containing such hits as “Who’s That Man,” “Upstairs Downtown,” “You Ain’t Much Fun” and “Big Ol’ Truck.”
Next up was a deal with the Nashville division of A&M Records, where he released his third album Blue Moon in 1996. That project contained “Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine on You,” “A Woman’s Touch” and “Me Too.” Keith returned to Mercury in 1997 to release his fourth studio album, Dream Walkin’, notching more hits with the project such as “We Were in Love” and a cover of Sting’s “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying.”
Toby Keith accepts an award onstage from BMI VP of Creative Nashville, Clay Bradley and president and CEO of BMI Mike O’Neill for the 2022 BMI Country Awards. Photo: Erika Goldring/Getty Images for BMI
The country maverick moved to DreamWorks Records in 1999. It was there that he had one of the biggest songs of his career, “How Do You Like Me Now?!” The song spent five weeks at No. 1 and became Keith’s first top 40 pop hit. The album of the same name also included “Country Comes to Town” and “You Shouldn’t Kiss Me Like This.”
Keith released his next project, Pull My Chain, in 2001—the same year he took home the ACM’s Top Male Vocalist and Album of the Year trophies. The album’s three singles—”I’m Just Talkin’ About Tonight,” “I Wanna Talk About Me” and “My List”—all topped of the country charts. “My List” was the CMA’s Single of the Year in 2002.
His next string of hits came from 2002’s Unleashed album, which included juggernaut “Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American),” a song Keith wrote by himself in just 20 minutes about the September 11 tragedy. Next came chart-toppers “Who’s Your Daddy?” and “Beer for My Horses,” a duet with Willie Nelson which spent six weeks at the top of the country charts.
Toby Keith presented with his Pandora’s Billionaires Plaque at his Las Vegas show at Dolby Live at Park MGM in 2023
Keith released his eighth studio album Shock’n Y’all in 2003, and collected more hits with “I Love This Bar,” “American Soldier” and “Whiskey Girl.” His last DreamWorks album was Honkytonk University, which included the six-week No. 1 “As Good as I Once Was.”
Keith founded his own label, Show Dog Nashville, in 2005. Releasing several projects on the label, he collected more hits, such as “Get Drunk and Be Somebody,” “A Little Too Late,” “Love Me If You Can,” “She Never Cried in Front of Me,” “God Love Her,” “American Ride,” “Every Dog Has Its Day” and more.
In 2011, Show Dog released Keith’s Clancy’s Tavern. The project included the No. 1 song “Made in America” and a beloved fan-favorite “Red Solo Cup,” which became Keith’s best-peaking crossover, reaching No. 15 on the Hot 100. His legacy was honored in December of 2011 when Keith received the Artist of the Decade award at the American Country Awards.
More success followed with Keith’s albums Hope on the Rocks (2012), 35 MPH Town (2015) and The Bus Songs (2017). He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.
Throughout his career, Keith has been a symbol of patriotism. His self-written “Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)” helped spur Americans onward despite our wounds following the terrorist attacks on September 11. He frequently played for the troops, doing 11 USO Tours and touching the lives of nearly 256,000 soldiers and military families across 18 countries with more than 285 events. Keith was recognized with the Spirit of the USO Award in 2014 for his efforts.
Keith was also very passionate about other philanthropic causes. His annual golf classics funded the Toby Keith Foundation and the OK Kids Korral, a cost-free home for families of children dealing with critical illnesses. Recently, the 19th installment of the charity event raised a record $1.8 million, bringing its all-total to nearly $18 million.
Toby Keith
A singer, songwriter, musician, producer, entrepreneur, philanthropist and more, Keith’s interests and skills spanned far and wide. Recently Keith acquired Luck E Strike, an iconic bait and tackle brand. Other business ventures he undertook were bar and restaurant ownership, a clothing line and more, in addition to being a record label owner and prominent music business executive. In a 2013 issue of Forbes magazine, Keith was described as “Country Music’s $500 million man,” as he was out-earning prominent musicians such as Jay-Z and Beyoncé at that time.
In 2023, 17 of Keith’s songs were newly certified as Gold and Platinum singles from the RIAA, including the hit “I Love This Bar,” which was awarded double Platinum. He also released his last album, 100% Songwriter, last year, which included 13 of his solo writes.
Keith is survived by his mother; wife of 40 years, Tricia Lucus Keith; daughters, Shelley Covel and Krystal Sandubrae; a son, Stelen; a sister, Tonnie; a brother, Tracy; and four grandchildren.
Memorial services for Keith have not yet been announced at this time.
