Toby Keith death latest: Country star Zach Ryan leads tributes after ...

Fellow country singer Zach Bryan honoured Toby Keith with a childhood memory.

“Too many rides in my old man’s car listening to Toby Keith,” the 27-year-old “Something in the Orange” tweeted.

“Really hard thing to hear,” he added. “Rest in peace friend we love you.”

Grammy-nominated country singer Luke Combs reacted in disbelief to Toby Keith’s death.

“Damn, RIP Toby. Can’t believe it,” the “When It Rains It Pours” singer tweeted.

“CMT is deeply saddened to learn of the tragic loss of country legend Toby Keith. Our hearts go out to his wife, Tricia, his children, and loved ones during this difficult time,” the channel Country Music Television said in a statement.

After a stint playing semi-pro American football, he launched his career as a singer in the late Seventies and Eighties, playing with his band around the red dirt roadhouse circuit in Oklahoma and Texas.

He ended up in Nashville, where he caught the interest of Mercury Records executive Harold Shedd, then best known for producing the hit group Alabama. Keith released his debut self-titled album, Toby Keith, with the label in 1993.

With his macho, pro-American swagger, booming voice and simple but catchy songs, Keith achieved success with hits including his breakthrough song, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy”, which became the most-played country song of the Nineties.

In a recently shared video, Keith reflected on one of the first songs he ever wrote, aged 14.

“The first song I ever wrote, I was 14 or 15 years old, it was called ‘If You Had an Out of Heartache”, it wasn’t bad, it was structured right, but it weren’t very good either.

“But the people round here, when I played it, they were like, ‘Wow, that’s a great song.’ It’s just a song, that was 5,000 songs ago.”

Pro-golfer John Daly, a longtime friend of the country music singer, commented on the Instagram post, writing: “My heart is truly broken… one of my best friends gone by this disease! RIP Big Dawg.”

“Toby Keith passed peacefully last night on February 5th, surrounded by his family. He fought his fight with grace and courage. Please respect the privacy of his family at this time,” a statement posted to Keith’s website and social media said.

Keith sold more than 40 million records over his career, which was peppered with controversy due to his political beliefs and a public feud with The Chicks (then known as The Dixie Chicks) over one of his biggest songs.

Keith’s fellow Oklahoman, country music star Zach Ryan, 27, is among the stars to pay tribute after Keith’s death from cancer.

“Too many rides in my old man’s car listening to Toby Keith. Really hard thing to hear,” he tweeted.

“Rest in peace friend we love you.”

The song peaked at No 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart upon its release, shortly after 9/11 and was heralded by many fans as a defiant anthem against terror.

Keith was later invited by broadcaster ABC to perform at its Fourth of July concert in 2002, but he claimed he was dropped from the show after host Peter Jennings expressed his distaste for it.

However, ABC said in a statement that it was the network’s decision, because it had not wanted to start its celebratory event with an angry song.

It was also the subject of negative reactions from his country music peers, including the legendary singer-songwriter Steve Earle, who accused the song of “pandering to people’s worst instincts at a time they are hurt and scared.” The Chicks singer Natalie Maines branded it “ignorant”.

In response, Keith (already incensed by Maines’ infamous remark about how the band were ashamed of then-President George W Bush over the imminent invasion of Iraq) performed in front of a doctored photo of her with Saddam Hussein.

Maines then wore a homemade T-shirt reading “FUTK” on stage at the 2003 ACM Awards. While the band insisted at the time that it stood for, “Friends United Together in Kindness”, most believed that it was an acronym for: “F*** You Toby Keith.” Maines later admitted this was the case in the band’s 2006 documentary, Shut Up & Sing.