Colt Ford Hospitalized After Heart Attack

Colt Ford suffered a heart attack after a concert in Arizona on Thursday night (April 4).

The pioneering country singer had just played Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row in Gilbert, Ariz. A note from his team shares that he’s in intensive care at a hospital in Mesa.

• Colt Ford (real name Jason Brown) first broke into country music with songs from his Ride Through the Country album in 2008.
• He was among the first to truly popularize mixing country and hip-hop, with artists like Brantley Gilbert, Florida Georgia Line and Jason Aldean noting his influence.
• Ford is perhaps best known for co-writing Aldean's "Dirt Road Anthem."

In recent years, Ford has battled several health issues. He successful fought off eye cancer but in 2022, was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Myasthenia Gravis. There is no cure for it. It affects the muscles in your face, eyes and throat.

"It hadn't really affected my throat, but it really affected my eye," Ford told Taste of Country in May 2023. "I had no control over my right eye. It really messes with your vision. I could see perfectly out of either eye, but then I would look together and I'd see three of you and you would be melting together like a lava lamp."

Over the last several years, Ford has also gotten divorced and remarried and lost a significant amount of weight.

The 53-year-old's path to country music was as unexpected as his style. Once a professional golfer, Ford started his own Average Joes Entertainment record label and began releasing music in the late '00s. His style of music set him apart, but so too did the massive collaborations he was able to pull off.

A short list of stars who’ve joined him include Jamey Johnson, Eric Church, Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Aldean, Jake Owen, Darius Rucker, Keith Urban, Toby Keith and more.

Must Be the Country is Ford’s most recent album, released in 2023. Talking to Taste of Country Nights about the album, he opened up about his friendship with Gilbert and how either one would drop everything to be there for each other.

According to his website, Ford has dates scheduled through the year, including a show on Friday night in Nevada.