Beloved Country Singer Discloses Heartbreaking Diagnosis

100 Percent Fed Up ^ | September 30, 2026 | Danielle

[Red Badger]

Charles Kelley, a founding member and co-lead vocalist of the country music group Lady A, revealed he has been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer.

Kelley said he has multiple myeloma.

“Hey everybody, just wanted to give a quick update on some health issues I’m dealing with,” Kelley said in an Instagram video alongside his wife Cassie McConnell Kelley.

“I had this – a couple random rib fractures that happened, which sparked my doctor into having me do several different blood tests,” he continued.

“And one of the blood tests we did, they found a blood cancer in there called multiple myeloma and it’s rare,” he added.

Lady A’s Charles Kelley reveals rare blood cancer diagnosis after alarming health scare https://t.co/3DdSBvowso pic.twitter.com/5JJ3IrSezl— New York Post (@nypost) September 29, 2026

ABC News shared further:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that multiple myeloma is a type of blood cancer where too many plasma cells crowd “out normal cells in the bone marrow that make red blood cells, platelets and other white blood cells.”

The CDC adds that it’s the most common type of plasma cell tumor and develops in the bone marrow and can spread throughout the body. According to the agency, scientists are still unclear about why some people get myeloma and others don’t, but age is the most significant risk factor.

Men are also more likely than women to develop myeloma, according to the CDC.

Despite the diagnosis, the “Need You Now” singer said he is hopeful.

“I’m young, I feel healthy, and the treatments, I will have to say, have just come so far, even in the past five years that, even a life expectancy is just far exceeds what it used to be,” the singer said, according to the outlet.

Lady A’s Charles Kelley Reveals Blood Cancer Diagnosis: ‘I Feel Really Hopeful’https://t.co/wIB6qUMgTI— billboard (@billboard) September 29, 2026

Variety has more:

Kelley likened sharing the news of his health with his sobriety journey: “Just getting this stuff off your chest is so freeing, and it takes the power away from it a little bit that we want to let y’all know what was going on. But we’re going to get through it. You know, I think in sobriety it’s all about one day at a time and that we’re not in control, and so that’s the way we’re looking at it.”

Kelley has been outspoken about his struggles with alcohol, and in 2022, the band — formerly known as Lady Antebellum — shared that they would be postponing the remainder of their “Request Line Tour” in support of Charles Kelley’s “journey to sobriety.”

The singer concluded the video by sharing that he is “hopeful” and will “try” to let fans in throughout the journey. “It’s just another hurdle, and you know, I’m confident that we’re going to get through it.”

From Dec. 10 through 21, the group will perform a run of Christmas shows as part of the “This Winter’s Night” tour.

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[READINABLUESTATE]

Multiple myeloma took my mother 30 years ago.

[Sicon]

"This is curable with a stem cell transplant"

Not necessarily. I knew someone who had multiple myeloma, had the stem cell transplant, and was still dead less than two years later.

[Tanniker Smith]

Formerly, Lady Antebellum. They're a trio that's a member of the Grand Old Opry, invited by Darius Rucker (aka "Hootie" from the Blowfish).

I'm seeing them later this year. I mean, I hope I still am.

[Tanniker Smith]

I don’t know their politics either because they don’t mention it at their shows.

I’ve seen them twice, and hopefully a third time in a couple months.

[Tanniker Smith]

They headlined the first show I saw after the Covid bans were lifted. Saw them at Jones Beach on Long Island.

So many people stayed home that the entire upper deck got upgraded.

[Enterprise]

At one of the concerts they played Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion.” Awesome. And I had to smile a little when Hillary Scott sang the line “You can’t catch me ‘cause the rabbit done died.”

[Right Brigade]

Sadly with cancer treatments.
You roll the dice your given and take your chances with the treatment.

[FreedomPoster]

AKA Hick Hop?

[Big Red Badger]

The transplant has Several Dangers in and of itself....
I Passed on it.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

I see that he does have some tattoos. https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/83/7_Supplement/6471/720535/Abstract-6471-Tattooing-and-risk-of-hematologic

Conclusion: We observed a potential association between having several large tattoos and risk of hematologic cancers, particularly myeloid neoplasms. The risk of myeloid neoplasms appeared to be strongest among individuals receiving tattoos at young age. If confirmed, these findings could inform public health messaging about the safety of tattoos.

[kaintucky]

Funny story. I suspected I had a cancer but had been planning a backpacking trip to NZ. Didn’t tell my wife or Dr until I got back. I waited until after the diagnosis before I told my wife what I had done. If it weren’t for having cancer she probably would have killed me.

It has been a gift really. I was working 30-60 hrs a week. Except for a few days a month after my treatment I have thoroughly enjoyed my retirement. Otherwise I’d still be working.

[rexthecat]

Thanks to recent breakthroughs, multiple myeloma is now treatable. Once a death sentence, patients can now live indefinitely with it. Tom Brokaw, the retired NBC broadcaster has had the illness for about 12 years. My brother has been receiving treatment at a VA hospital for five years. It is still a difficult disease to live with, but it no longer has to have a fatal outcome.

[Big Red Badger]

Exactly!
Good Lord Said;
He gives us Three Score and Ten and That’s
What I got about after Retirement.
.

Then Boom! My butt all but fell off !
I call it my “Best if used By Date”
You a lucky man

[Midwesterner53]

I guess changing the name of the group to satisfy the mobs actually changed nothing.

[kaintucky]

So far.

[kaintucky]

God willing

[kaintucky]

God willing

[Drew68]

Changing headlines is verboten on FR............

You can add to the headline in parenthesis. I often do when the original headline is vague.

I'd have posted the headline as this: "Beloved Country Singer Discloses Heartbreaking Diagnosis (Lady A's Charles Kelley)" thereby keeping the original title intact but also letting people know who the "beloved country singer" is.

It's the little things.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

The female lead singer (don’t remember her name and too lazy to look it up) has an amazing voice - she also sings Christian songs.

[Red Badger]

"...she also sings Christian songs."

So does Barbra Streisand...........