Country star Willie Nelson has been forced to cancel his upcoming performance on “doctor’s orders”.
The 91-year-old singer was set to perform a headline set at the Outlaw Music Festival in Alpharetta, Georgia, but has since cancelled the appearance, along with a series of other upcoming shows in North Carolina and Virginia. His representative confirmed medical professionals have ordered at least four days of rest for the On the Road Again hitmaker.
A statement said: “We regret to inform you that Willie Nelson is not feeling well and, per doctor’s orders, has been advised to rest for the next four days. He is expected to make a quick recovery and join the Outlaw Music Festival tour next week.
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“In the meantime, Lukas Nelson (Willie’s son) and the Family Band, along with a few guests, will perform a special set to include Willie’s classics and other songs.”
(Image: Getty Images for SiriusXM)
Willie has been candid about his health in the past, battling emphysema and pneumonia – and he was forced to give up smoking cannabis due to breathing problems. But according to sources, he plans to go out “on his terms with cannabis oil and a smile on his face” when his time eventually comes.
The star’s battle with emphysema – better known as COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – was amid Willie admitting: “I have abused my lungs quite a bit in the past, so breathing is a little more difficult these days, and I have to be careful.”
(Image: Getty Images)
He also suffered with a tough strain of Covid-19, with his wife Annie confessing: “I had a nebuliser on the bus. I started everything I could at that point, including Paxlovid. He had the monoclonal antibodies. He had steroids.”
She was forced to turn their house “into a hospital”, adding: “There were a couple of times I wasn’t sure he was going to make it.”
(Image: WireImage)
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The latest news comes after a documentary on the singer revealed previously unknown background details on the hitmaker’s life. He explained how he and his brother were both raised by his grandparents after his mum left home soon after he was born. Willie’s dad then remarried and abandoned the family.
Willie said: “For as long as I can remember, Bobbie and I called my grandparents ‘Mama and Daddy Nelson. Mama and Daddy Nelson gave Bobbie and me two gifts that saved our lives: love and music. [They] taught music as a form of worship, another way to praise the Lord. They anchored us, raised us and kept us – or at least, tried to keep me – on the straight and narrow.”
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