Pick a Day

Music History Events: Health Issues

January 27, 2002 Koko Taylor collapses during a private function at her club, Koko Taylor's Celebrity, in Chicago, Illinois, after failing to take her diabetic medication. Doctors also discover arterial blockage in her heart.

January 24, 2002 In San Antonio, Texas, Tex-Mex legend Freddy Fender receives a much-needed kidney transplant from his daughter, Marla Huerta Garcia.

November 15, 2000 Due to the throat troubles of their frontmen, Chino Moreno and Fred Durst, Deftones and Limp Bizkit, respectively, cancel separate shows north of the US border. Deftones were to play to several thousand fans at the Aberdeen Pavilion in Ottawa, while Durst et al were to rock Vancouver with its Anger Management Tour.

October 24, 2000 Shelley Fabares is admitted to a hospital for a liver transplant after being diagnosed with hepatitis.

October 15, 2000 Dave Edmunds undergoes a triple-bypass heart operation at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

October 9, 2000 Dennis DeYoung of Styx, unable to tour because of debilitating fatigue, sues the band for touring without him. The suit is eventually settled, but DeYoung never returns to the fold. Styx carries on without him, but leaves most of his songs out of the setlists.

October 7, 2000 Chris LeDoux gets his new liver. The cowboy singer, diagnosed two months earlier with primary sclerosing cholangitis, undergoes transplant surgery at the Nebraska Health System hospital in Omaha, Nebraska.

September 15, 2000 For the first time since learning he has Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), country singer Chris LeDoux returns to the stage while he awaits the necessary liver transplant.

January 1, 2000 George Harrison is informed that he will be able to play guitar again following knife injuries to his hand during Michael Abram's recent home invasion.

October 20, 1999 A year after nearly dying from pneumonia, Johnny Cash finds himself battling the condition again. Cash is listed in serious condition at Baptist Hospital in Nashville.

November 16, 1998 Having suffered a seizure while performing in Hollywood a few weeks earlier, Roland Alphonso of the Skatalites slips into a coma.

November 9, 1998 Rick James suffers a stroke after a blood vessel ruptures in his neck while he is head banging during a performance in Denver, Colorado. A spokesman later comments, "The doctor called it a result of rock'n'roll neck, the repeated rhythmic whiplash motion of the head and neck."

June 29, 1998 George Harrison announces that he is undergoing chemotherapy for throat cancer, with assurances that, "I'm not going to die on you folks just yet." He succumbs to the disease three years later.

May 16, 1998 Keith Richards injures his ribs and chest when he falls from a chair at his Connecticut home; The Rolling Stones are forced to reschedule the first four dates of their upcoming tour while he recovers.

January 21, 1998 James Brown is released from a South Carolina hospital after undergoing treatment for an addiction to painkillers.

January 15, 1998 James Brown is admitted to a South Carolina hospital for addiction to painkillers.

November 27, 1997 Icelandic singer Björk is admitted to the hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland, with a high fever. The singer is forced to cancel many upcoming performance dates due to a kidney infection.

November 12, 1997 Carly Simon is hospitalized with breast cancer, undergoing both chemo and a mastectomy.

June 28, 1997 George Harrison has an operation to remove a cancerous growth from his neck.

May 26, 1997 Bob Dylan's summer tour is canceled after he is hospitalized with chest pains.

December 23, 1996 Tony Bennett is released from a Washington, DC, hospital after an emergency hernia operation (he was stricken while preparing to perform at the White House).

December 21, 1996 En route to a White House dinner with the Clintons, Tony Bennett suffers a ruptured hernia and is rushed to the hospital.

August 5, 1996 Soul singer Wilson Pickett checks into a court-ordered rehab for cocaine addiction.

December 6, 1995 Michael Jackson collapses in a New York theater during a rehearsal for an upcoming TV special and is hospitalized.

July 16, 1995 At North Carolina's Duke University Medical Center, Wayne Osmond of The Osmonds undergoes an operation to remove a brain tumor.

June 24, 1995 Eddie Vedder, felled by a bad tuna fish sandwich, has to leave Pearl Jam's show at the Polo Fields in San Francisco after seven songs. Neil Young, on hand to play a song or two as a special guest, takes over, playing 14 songs to quell a potential riot. The No Code song "Red Mosquito" is about this incident.

March 3, 1995 R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry undergoes successful brain surgery. Berry collapsed due to a brain aneurysm during a concert in Switzerland.

November 20, 1994 Former Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young member David Crosby receives a liver transplant.

November 2, 1994 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's David Crosby is hospitalized after suffering liver failure; he's fortunate enough to find a donor for a transplant.

October 6, 1994 Glenn Frey has stomach surgery for diverticulitis, causing the Eagles to postpone dates on their their Hell Freezes Over tour, which resumes in January.