Jim Ed Brown's cancer in remission

[topgsfan]

Brian Mansfield, USA TODAY 6:18 p.m. EST January 20, 2015

Today, country-music great Jim Ed Brown released In Style Again, his first album in 35 years. But that's not the best thing that has happened to the country great this week.

The singer of such '50s and '60s country classics as The Three Bells and Pop a Top has been undergoing treatment for lung cancer since being diagnosed in the fall. Yesterday, he got good news from a CT scan.

"The great doctors that have been treating my cancer informed me that I am in remission," the singer, 80, said in a statement via his publicist. "I cannot thank everyone enough for the prayers, well wishes, and support during the toughest time of my life. I look forward to getting back on the road and gracing the stage of the Grand Ole Opry."



****So thankful for this good news! Jim Ed Brown has always been one of top favorites!

[topgsfan]

Duplicated

[topgsfan]

I guess this should have been posted before the previous one, but I found it after the other one and thought I'd post it anyway.

Despite cancer scare, Jim Ed Brown's 'In Style Again'

Brian Mansfield, USA TODAY 6:57 p.m. EST January 19, 2015


Despite cancer scare, Jim Ed Brown's 'In Style Again' Country crooner Jim Ed Brown hadn't made a new album in 35 years. If he'd waited much longer, he might not have made his new one.

Brown — a mainstay on the country charts from the '50s through the '70s on his own; with his family trio, The Browns; and with duet partner Helen Cornelius — was diagnosed with lung cancer several weeks after recording In Style Again, out Tuesday.

"I was having problems getting breath," says Brown, 80. Being a singer, a profession in which breath control is essential, might have helped him get diagnosed early. He says his band members noticed a change in his singing before he did.

"They were more attuned to it than I was," he says. "They knew something was wrong and that I needed to get it checked."

Brown was driving to a show in Columbus, Ga., last fall when he got a call from his doctor suggesting that he come in for news of his test results, that day if possible.

"I said, 'Well, I'm on my way to Georgia,'" Brown says. "She said, 'You might want to think about this.'"

After a couple calls to family members who also are doctors, Brown canceled that night's show and turned the car around.

"I came back in, and I got my son-in-law to go with me to the doctor, because I was afraid to go by myself," he says. "I went up there, and she said, 'Jim Ed, I hate to tell you this, but you've got cancer.' They said you better cancel your dates, because you're going to have a rough time of this."

Brown has been receiving treatment since November.

Brown has his earliest hits with his sisters Bonnie and Maxine, most notably 1959's crossover smash The Three Bells, a song that got new life when it featured prominently in the final season of The Sopranos. A 1967 barroom shuffle called Pop a Top gave him signature solo hit, and he had a string of duet success with Cornelius in the latter half of the '70s, placing more than 40 songs in the top 40 of the country charts along the way.
In Style Again revisits all the phases of Brown's career, as he lends his mellow baritone to ballads, folky melodies and honky-tonk tunes alike. It's his first album of new material since 1980.

"I haven't recorded anything in a long time," Brown says. "What a thrill it is to get back in the studio and be able to record again."

In Style Again leads with When the Sun Says Hello to the Mountain, which has the vintage Browns trio harmony, even though only two of the siblings sing on the track.

Older sister "Maxine, bless her heart, she can't travel anymore, and whenever we got ready to do it, she couldn't come here," Brown says. "But Bonnie, she came in and did Maxine's part and hers, too. And you can't tell the difference in 'em."

Cornelius reunites with Brown for a remake of the country standard Don't Let Me Cross Over, a song that was a No. 1 his in 1962 for Carl Butler and Pearl. Brown's fellow Grand Ole Opry stars Sharon and Cheryl White harmonize with him on You Again, a song Brown says he has wanted to record since the Forester Sisters took it up the country charts in 1980. Vince Gill also lends his voice to a shuffle called Tried and True.

Brown recorded the album for Plowboy Records, a Nashville label founded three years ago by R. Shannon Pollard, the grandson of country legend Eddy Arnold; former Dead Boys guitarist Cheetah Chrome; and music historian Don Cusic, who produced most of In Style Again.

Brown has not performed publicly since his diagnosis but hopes to return to the stage soon, if his recovery goes well.

"God has blessed me with a voice," Brown says. "You can't tell it right now, but He has blessed me with a voice. I've been able to sing all these years and sing songs, just about any song that I wanted to sing."

[josweetheart]

Praise the Lord! I love Jim Ed's song named "Fall Softly Snow".

God bless you and him always!!!

Holly

[Deleted]

It's awesome that he's doing well.