Country Legend Ray Stevens Rushed To Hospital For Emergency Heart Surgery
By Kelly Coffey-Behrens on July 10, 2025 at 12:45 PM EDT
Country music icon Ray Stevens is on the mend following a mild heart attack that landed him in a Nashville hospital over the Fourth of July weekend.
The 86-year-old Grammy-winning artist, best known for beloved hits like “Everything Is Beautiful” and “Misty,” was rushed to the emergency room on July 4 after experiencing chest pains.
A heart catheterization procedure revealed Ray Stevens had suffered a mild heart attack, and doctors quickly scheduled him for minimally invasive heart surgery on July 8.
Ray Stevens Recovering After Heart Attack, Upcoming Shows Canceled
Stevens’ official Facebook page shared an encouraging update on Wednesday night, confirming that the singer is out of the ICU and already beginning physical therapy.
“Ray is out of ICU and beginning to walk the halls as therapy with a nurse's assistance as he is working towards recovering from this surgery,” the statement read. “Ray is very grateful for all of the cards and get-well messages. Everything is still beautiful!”
While the surgery was successful, Stevens will be stepping away from live performances for the foreseeable future. All upcoming shows at his CabaRay Showroom in Nashville have been canceled through July 2025 as he continues to rest and recover.
Stevens Reflects On Legacy After Health Scare And Loss Of Wife Of 60 Years
Stevens’ recent health scare comes less than four years after the heartbreaking loss of his wife of six decades, Penny Jackson Ragsdale, who passed away from cancer on December 31, 2021. The couple shared two daughters, Suzi and Timi.
A pillar of the country and comedy music scene, Stevens began his career in 1957 after signing with Capitol Records at just 18 years old. He went on to become a sought-after producer and studio musician in Nashville throughout the 1970s.
His musical contributions have earned him 11 Grammy nominations, including two wins, Best Contemporary Male Vocalist for “Everything Is Beautiful” in 1971 and Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists for “Misty” in 1976.
In addition to his Grammy honors, Stevens has been inducted into numerous halls of fame, including the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Christian Music Hall of Fame, and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Ray Stevens Once Went Viral With Cheeky Single 'Taylor Swift Is Stalkin’ Me'
Long before his recent health scare, Ray Stevens continued to delight fans with his signature brand of tongue-in-cheek storytelling.
In 2015, the country legend released a track titled “Taylor Swift Is Stalkin’ Me,” adding to his catalog of humorous hits like “Ahab the Arab” and “The Mississippi Squirrel Revival.”
The inspiration came from longtime radio friend Chuck Redden. “He sent a rough draft of something he had put together,” Stevens told Billboard at the time. “I got Buddy Kalb to work on the lyric and I did the melody and some of the lyric. It turned out to be a three-writer song, but Chuck had the idea. I thought it was an attention grabber and wanted to see if we could make something out of it.”
The cheeky single quickly made its way through viral channels, though Stevens said he never received direct feedback from Swift or her team. “I think they have [heard it],” he shared. “I haven’t heard any direct feedback from them, pro or con, but I can’t imagine that anybody would take offense. It’s all in fun.”
Ray Stevens Reflects On 7 Decades In Music
As someone who’s recorded across seven decades, Stevens has witnessed firsthand how the music industry has evolved. While the tools have changed, he says, the heart of the process remains the same.
“You still have to have talented people playing and singing, but the technology has changed so much,” he said in a past interview. “All the tracks you have now and ability to overdub without any tape noise… that’s just wonderful."
He added, "If you have a song with two or three choruses which are all the same, you only have to record the background voices once and then you can take them and move them to chorus number two or three, which saves you a lot of tonsils.”
Why Ray Stevens Chose To Record Songs ‘Nobody Would Record’
Beyond his comedic charm and award-winning originals, Ray Stevens has always had a deep appreciation for the songs that paved the way. At one point in his career, he released a covers album, not for chart success, but to breathe new life into forgotten melodies.
"I chose some of the songs simply because they seemed like songs that nobody would record," Stevens told The Tennessean in 2021. "I figured, these poor songs, they need somebody to take pity on them and make a record. See what the potential might be in some of these songs that are... forgotten."
Though he’s taking a break from the stage, fans are hopeful this isn’t the last curtain call for Stevens.
