Physical health isn’t guaranteed, even when someone is famous. These four country artists overcame severe health challenges and came out stronger on the other side.
Videos by American Songwriter
Phil Vassar
Phil Vassar revealed last year that in 2023, he had both a stroke and a heart attack, dying twice as a result. Vassar was already in the hospital for the stroke when he had a heart attack.
“They shot me straight down to Atlanta,” Vassar recalls to Taste of Country. “Stroke protocol, all that stuff. So they iced me down, and they said I was going, ‘Why was it so cold?’”
Vassar was on ice, which is what helped bring him back to life.
“I dropped dead,” he reveals. “I was dead for 30 minutes a couple times – died. No heartbeat. No heartbeat at all.”
Coming so close to death profoundly changed Vassar and the music he makes.
“When you go through something as life-changing as a heart attack, you become more introspective and sentimental,” Vassar tells People. “I want to put out music that reflects that.”
Colt Ford
Like Vassar, Colt Ford was also brought back to life after he passed away. Earlier this year, Ford went into cardiac arrest twice, making him a walking miracle.
The health crisis inspired Ford to revamp his lifestyle, shedding more than 60 pounds as a result.
“I’ve changed everything,” Ford tells People. “If I go by Whataburger, I’ll eat a grilled chicken sandwich. I don’t do all the fries and stuff. McDonald’s used to be my sh*t and I loved it, but I haven’t even craved it.”
Shania Twain
Shania Twain released Up! in 2002, a project that would be her last for multiple years. Twain later revealed that the reason she took time away was because she was fighting Lyme disease. Devastatingly, the illness impacted her voice, giving her dysphonia, a vocal condition that changed the way her voice sounds.
In her Shania Twain: Not Just a Girl documentary, Twain says that it was heartbreaking for her.
“My voice was never the same again,” she admits. “I thought I’d lost my voice forever.”
Fortunately, Twain received treatment, undergoing throat surgery to give her her voice back.
“When you realize that you have another chance at something that you love, you take it,” Twain tells People. “You put fear aside to do it — and that’s what I did.”
Mark Chesnutt
Mark Chesnutt almost drank himself to death, literally. Chesnutt battled alcoholism for years until suffering a health crisis that could have ended his life. He had already undergone back surgery, although due to the global shutdown at the time, he was unable to have the much-needed physical therapy.
“I couldn’t work. I was laid up, didn’t drive, couldn’t walk, couldn’t do anything,” Chesnutt recalls to American Songwriter. As a result, Chesnutt began drinking more and more. He finally admitted himself to a hospital after realizing his addiction was out of control.
“I was bleeding out from my inside,” Chesnutt says. “They basically told me they were gonna get me over this, and I was going to be fine, and they could fix everything wrong with me. But if they discharged me and I went home and started drinking again, I’d be back in a matter of days, and I might not leave alive. I had to quit drinking or die.”
Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images
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