Hal Ketchum died from complications stemming from dementia. He was 67.
“With great sadness and grief we announce that Hal passed away peacefully last night at home due to complications of Dementia,” Andrea Ketchum, Hal Ketchum’s wife, wrote. “May his music live on forever in your hearts and bring you peace,” she wrote.
Andrea Ketchum revealed in April 2019 that Hal Ketchum had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. According to the announcement, at the time, he had already been battling the debilitating ailment “for some time now.”
“But because of his love for his fans, he continued performing as long as it was possible,” Andrea Ketchum wrote in the social media post. “Dementia is an exhausting and confusing illness and now it’s time for Hal to stay home with loved ones.”
Some of Ketchum’s most legendary hits include “Long Haired Country Boy,” for which he earned a Country Music Association Award nomination in 1997, and “Hearts Are Gonna Roll.”
The “Small Town Saturday Night” crooner’s 1991 album “Past the Point of Rescue” has also reached gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. Over the course of his career, which began in the 1980s, Ketchum would release eleven studio albums – with his first coming in 1986.
Ketchum’s most recent releases were “Father Time” in 2008 and “I’m the Troubadour” in 2014.
