Country music legend rushed to hospital moments before | Music News

Country music star Mark Chesnutt was hospitalized moments before he was due to carry out on stage on Thursday.

The singer and songwriter, recognized for tracks including Bubba Shot the Jukebox, Too Cold at Home and Brother Jukebox, was making ready to open for the band Alabama at the Raising Cane’s River Center in downtown Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when he fell sick.

The 62-year-old was taken to the hospital “for medical reasons,” the venue said, without offering additional particulars on his condition. In an interview earlier this yr, Mark opened up about a sequence of health points he has confronted in latest years.

According to ABC affiliate WBRX News 2, Mark’s band went forward with the efficiency on October 16 despite his absence.

The musician remained to the hospital on Friday while present process assessments for “low sodium count and extreme high blood pressure,” Tony Conway, the top of Mark’s management group, confirmed to The Express US.

They added, “We apologize for this cancellation and hope to bring another high-quality act to Portales in the future.”

Mark’s hospitalization comes after he suffered a sequence of health points in latest years, which led to him taking some time off in November 2023.

In June 2024, he underwent emergency quadruple bypass surgical procedure, which meant he had to cancel some exhibits including his efficiency at Dauphin’s Countryfest.

He returned to the stage in October 2024 and carried out at the Songs and Stories of Dean Dillon live performance in Alabama.

In a new interview with American Songwriter earlier this yr, the nation star spoke candidly about the sequence of severe health points he is confronted in latest years, including a fractured backbone, alcohol dependancy, and a near-fatal coronary heart condition.

Describing the spinal surgical procedure he had to bear, he said, “It was getting worse and worse, and my surgery was a major, major one. I couldn’t work. I was laid up, didn’t drive, couldn’t walk, couldn’t do anything.”

With touring on maintain during the Covid-19 pandemic and throughout his recovery, he turned to alcohol dependancy.

“I drank all day, every day,” he said. He described waking up in the center of the night time just to keep consuming, including, “I just took it to the extreme, and it about killed me.”

He was ultimately taken to the hospital “on the edge of cardiac arrest” and medical doctors told him he wouldn’t have survived for much longer without treatment. “I had to quit drinking, or die,” he said.