Remembering 2024’s Music Losses: Toby Keith

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No doubt NJ Chic has been waiting for this one; and, if she were doing this list, this would be the biggest loss of the year. It was certainly no surprise, but we always had hope he’d pull through. Here’s today’s music superstar who left us last year. Toby Keith You’re doing something right when you’re inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame...the one with Cole Porter and Frank Loesser in it. Their entry on Toby Keith explains it perfectly: “He wrote a top hit for 20 years in a row.” THAT is accomplishing something. Keith’s music was rock-based country, hell-yeah!!!!! good time stuff. With titles like “I Love This Bar” and “Red Solo Cup,” you knew where he was coming from (well, other than Oklahoma). He also wasn’t afraid to show his political side, recording “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)” right after 9/11. Additionally, Keith was a philanthropist. He donated and raised millions for children’s cancer centers in Oklahoma, spurred to action by the death of the daughter of one of his band members. His career was still going strong when he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He underwent surgery and chemo and mounted a return to the stage, but the fight was too great for him. Days before he died, voting for the Class of 2024 inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame had been completed. Keith was elected. Raise your Red Solo Cup to him. Toby Keith Born Toby Keith Covel, July 8, 1961, Clinton, Oklahoma Died February 5, 2024, Oklahoma (stomach cancer) (age 62) HALLS OF FAME: Country Music, Nashville Songwriters, Songwriters Here’s something you don’t see every day, Toby Keith leading The Beach Boys in a cover of the Beach Boys’ classic “Be True to Your School”: