This vibrant and frank singer has won two ACM Entertainer of the Year awards. A bearded man with a cowboy hat and flannel shirt spreads his arms while singing or speaking into a microphone upstage.
On April 7, 2014, Toby Keith performs at ACM Presents an All-Star Salute to the Troops in Las Vegas. Keith had cancer in 2022.
Country singer Keith died quietly on Monday surrounded by his family from stomach cancer, according to his website.
He fought celebrities, journalists, and record executives who tried to polish him. He sang Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue and big barroom tunes like I Love This Bar and Red Solo Cup with patriotism after 9/11.
Both older and younger bearded cowboy hat-wearing males appear on stage. Keith and Willie Nelson perform at the 30th Annual American Music Awards (AMA) at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Jan. 13, 2003.
His deep voice, tongue-in-cheek humor, and range covered love and drinking songs. His 20 No. 1 country songs included How Do You Like Me Now?!, Should've Been a Cowboy, As Good As I Once Was.
The Country Beat interviewed Toby Keith in 1993 about his songwriting process. It's clumped like ripe fruit, so you have to harvest it when it's ready.
After moving to Nashville, Mercury Records chief Harold Shedd, a producer for Alabama, became interested in him. He launched his platinum debut Toby Keith in 1993 with Mercury, signed by Shedd.
Radio stations broadcast his breakout hit, Should've Been a Cowboy, three million times, making it the 1990s' most played country song. Keith thought executives were pushing him into pop.
He performed for foreign troops on 11 USO trips. He raised millions for charity, including erecting a house in Oklahoma City for cancer-stricken children and their families.
"I always felt like that the songwriting was the most important part of this whole industry," Keith told songwriters and vocalists.