“His Body Was Almost Unrecognizable, but His Voice Stayed Strong”: This Toby Keith Performance Proved He Gave Us His All Until the End

Toby Keith was a performer all the way up until his death. The country legend died in February 2024 after a battle with stomach cancer. He was 62.

Videos by American Songwriter

Just two months before his death, Keith played his last run of shows. He sold out Las Vegas’ Dolby Live at Park MGM three nights, on Dec. 10, 11, and 14.

During his encore at those performances, Keith played one of his best-known songs: “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).”

In a TikTok video that appears to have been taken at one of those three performances, a gaunt-looking Keith expertly performed his 2002 track.

Though he looked quite ill at the time, Keith didn’t miss a note as he sang the patriotic tune and played an American flag guitar.

@jordangriffen3

@Toby Keith – Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue #tobykeith #courtesyoftheredwhiteandblue #inaugurationday #countryconcert #countrymusic #usa🇺🇸

♬ original sound – Live Music G

“His body was almost unrecognizable, but his voice stayed strong and powerful,” one person commented on the video.

The person who posted the video agreed, writing, “It was uncanny being in the audience. Sounded just like the guy we all listened to forever but he looked so different.”

Other commenters praised Keith for giving his “all until the last minute” and noted “he still had it” all the way up until his death.

How Toby Keith’s Patriotic Song Came to Be

The song was released in the wake of the September 11 attack. Two years after its release, Keith told TIME that he wrote the track in “a 20 minute writing binge.” He penned it, he told the outlet, “so that I had something to play for our fighting men and women.”

“I knew it would be polarizing, I knew it would be a lightning rod,” Keith told FOX Nation in 2021. “And I prayed about it. But at the end of the day, it was a battle cry for our guys to go win and get back home safely and go do what Americans really do.”

He added, “This song was bigger than I could ever imagine and it was more polarizing than I could ever imagine, but I don’t care. It meant so much to so many people and it came from the heart. Godspeed.”

Photo by Katherine Bomboy/NBC via Getty Images