Guy Clark Cause of Death: How Did Country Singer Die?

Legendary singer-songwriter Guy Clark pictured in 2009. (Getty)

Legendary singer-songwriter Guy Clark passed away on May 17 at the age of 74, according to a post on his Facebook page. The famed troubadour was a life long smoker and had been battling cancer for a number of years.

His biogarpher, Tamara Saviano, told Taste of Country on May 1 that Clark had entered a nursing home facility and was in “stable condition.” She denied that he had entered hospice care. Saviano is working on a documentary titled Without Getting Killed or Caught about Clark’s life. The film is due to be released in November 2016.

Clark, who had written songs for country artists as diverse as Johnny Cash and Kenny Chesney, won the Best Folk Album away for My Favorite Picture of You in 2014. A year later, Clark was hospitalized in June 2015 just prior to his induction into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. At the time, Saviano said that Clark had a bad reaction to new medication.

Clark pictured with fellow country legend Ricky Skaggs in 2013. (Getty)

A 2013 feature in Garden & Gun on Clark saw him say, “Cancer is just a pain in the ass.” He added that he was diagnosed with lymphoma and that he had a serious leg injury. Clark said that his chemotherapy meant that alcohol made him “nauseated,” but he noted “I’ve got a great bottle of tequila ready to go if something should change.”

Clark was a native of West Texas but had been living in Nashville since 1971. Nashville Scene reported in July 2012 that Clark’s wife, Susanna, who was also a singer and painter, had died from lung cancer at the age of 73.

He told CBS News about his cancer struggles in 2013, saying, “I just don’t have time to be worried about it. Got songs to write, guitars to build – life is short, you better get started.”