Country singer was unafraid to offend
Musician behind ‘Beer For My Horses’ and ‘Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue’ had 20 No. 1 hits and wore politics on his sleeve
Toby Keith, a hit country crafter of pro-American anthems who both riled up critics and was loved by millions of fans, has died. He was 62.
The “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” singer-songwriter, who had stomach cancer, died peacefully Monday 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 announced his cancer diagnosis in 2022.
The 6-foot-4 singer broke out in the country boom years of the 1990s, 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?!,” “As Good As I Once Was,” “My List” and “Beer for My Horses,” a duet with Willie Nelson. His influences were other working class songwriters like Merle Haggard and tallied more than 60 singles on the Hot Country chart over his career.
Throughout the cancer treatments, Keith continued to perform, most recently playing in Las Vegas in December. He also performed on the People’s Choice Country Awards in 2023 as he sang his song “Don’t Let the Old Man In.”
“Cancer is a roller coaster,” he told KWTV during an interview aired last month. “You just sit here and wait on it to go away. It might never go away.”
Keith worked as a roughneck in the oil fields of Oklahoma as a young man, then played semipro 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 The Associated Press in 2001, following the success of his song “I’m Just Talking About Tonight.”
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 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 U.S. soil in 2001, and early on he said was a conservative Democrat, but later claimed he was an independent. He’s 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.
That song got pulled from a patriotic ABC Fourth of July special after producers deemed it too angry for the show. Then there was the feud between Keith and The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks), who became a target of Keith’s ire when singer Natalie Maines told a crowd that they were ashamed of then-President George W. Bush. Maines had also previously called Keith’s song “ignorant.”
Keith, who had previously claimed that he supported any artist’s freedom to voice their opinion about politics, used a doctored photo of Maines with an image of Saddam Hussein at his concerts, further ramping up angry fans. Maines responded by wearing a shirt with the letters “FUTK” onstage at the 2003 ACM Awards, which many people believed was a vulgar message to Keith.
His pro-military stance wasn’t just fodder for songs, however. He went on 11 USO tours to visit and play for troops serving overseas. He also helped to raise millions for charity over his career, including building a home in Oklahoma City for kids with cancer and their families.
His later hits included “Love Me If You Can,” “She Never Cried In Front of Me,” and “Red Solo Cup.” 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.
In 2013, Keith opened a Rosemont location for his then burgeoning I Love This Restaurant & Bar chain of eateries/honkytonks. It was a sprawling 32,000 square-foot affair complete with a massive guitar-shaped bar and live entertainment stage. In 2015, the restaurant closed, part of a series of closures for the chain across the country.