John Anderson, the Country Music Hall of Fame inductee with a distinctive voice and a weighty songbook that included “Swingin’,” “Straight Tequila Night,” and “Seminole Wind,” died today (Oct. 21) at the age of 71.

“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and best friend,” reads a statement from his family.

“To the world, he was a gifted country music singer whose voice and songs touched countless lives. To us, he was so much more. He was the heart of our family, the one who made us laugh, loved us fiercely, and made every ordinary moment feel special. We are completely heartbroken.”

A native of Apopka, Fla., Anderson relocated to Nashville in 1971. An early job saw him nailing shingles onto the roof of the Grand Ole Opry House ahead of that iconic building’s 1974 opening.

“I was just wanting to play and sing pretty much at any level that I could,” he told Billboard in 2024. “Thankfully, I was blessed that one little job led to another one, and most of the time it was kind of a little upgrade.”

That upgrade came when he signed with Warner Bros. Records and went about constructing a lofty career in music with such works as “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal (But I’m Gonna Be a Diamond Someday),” “Wild and Blue,” “I Just Came Home to Count the Memories,” “1959,” “Black Sheep,” and his signature song “Swingin’, which would scoop both the CMA Horizon Award and single of the year in 1983.

Anderson’s hot start cooled for a time, but his career took off once again when he signed with BNA in 1991 and landed a comeback hit with the Country Airplay chart-topping “Straight Tequila Night,” housed on his album Seminole Wind.

A neo-traditional pioneer, Anderson was both a critical and commercial success. He landed five No. 1s, among 20 top 10s, on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, with those top 10s spanning 1981-95. On Top Country Albums, he notched five top 10s, from the years 1982-92. Respect came from his peers, too, with Academy of Country Music’s career achievement award in 1993, induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014, and entry into the Country Music Hall of Fame a decade later, in 2024.

Anderson battled health issues in recent years, but pushed through the pain. “Through all of 2017 and all the way up until May of 2018, I had spent most of my time in the hospital and had been very, very ill,” he told Billboard in 2020. “I had almost 100% hearing loss. I did OK being sick, but when I lost my hearing and couldn’t play and sing, that really almost put an end to me. I just started praying and praying harder than I’ve ever prayed in my life and you know what? My hearing started coming back.”

During one procedure, he says he almost died on the operating room table. Anderson, however, was a hard man to stop. During the peak of the pandemic, he released an album of new material, Years, produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and David “Fergie” Ferguson.

“John Anderson was a one-of-a-kind song stylist who proved that fresh innovations were best born from time-honored traditions,” recounts Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “Whether he borrowed inspiration from Lefty Frizzell’s vocal bends or the Florida swamp land, he brought dynamic distinction and creative soul to a world that needed to hear his voice. In 1981, John famously gave life to Billy Joe Shaver’s lyric, ‘I’m just an old chunk of coal, but I’ll be a diamond someday.’ He was already a diamond then, and a diamond he always will be.”

Anderson died peacefully in his sleep, reads the statement from his family, roughly seven weeks before his 72nd birthday. “His music will live on, but for us, his greatest legacy will always be the love he gave his family and the memories we will carry with us forever. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers as we grieve this unimaginable loss.”

Anyone who was introduced to Darren Criss through his role on Glee was in for a special treat Sunday night (Oct. 18) at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where the Emmy- and Tony-winning actor reunited with co-star Chris Colfer to perform together for the first time in more than a decade.

Criss joined Glee during season 2 in 2010 to play Blaine Anderson, the lead singer of the Dalton Academy Warblers and love interest (and eventual first boyfriend) for Colfer’s Kurt Hummel. On Sunday, when Criss made his debut at the iconic venue with two back-to-back performances, Colfer was among an impressive lineup of surprise guests who hit the stage.

But before Colfer arrived, Criss teased the crowd by attempting to sing one of Kurt and Blaine’s most memorable duets all by himself: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” from the season 2 episode “A Very Glee Christmas,” which peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 2010. “I’m gonna do my best to sing both parts,” he told the audience, launching into the impossible solo duet. A few lines in, though, the crowd started cheering when they saw Colfer emerge.

“Hey, Darren!” Colfer casually said, to which Criss responded: “It’s been awhile!” In fact, the pair hadn’t performed together in more than a decade, given Glee wrapped its seven-season run back in 2015.

“Do you know the words to this?” Criss prompted Colfer, who assured him: “I do.”

Watch the sweet reunion below:

In addition to the Colfer surprise, other surprise guests included Alan Cumming for ABBA’s “Does Your Mother Know”; Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo for “Lost Boys Life,” an original song Criss wrote and recorded with his late brother, Chuck Criss, for their band Computer Games; Sarah Hyland for “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors; as well as her Modern Family co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson for Adele’s “Someone Like You.”

Even before Criss was on Glee, he made a name for himself as a University of Michigan student by co-creating A Very Potter Musical, a Harry Potter-themed musical that went viral online. On Sunday night, he performed “Goin’ Back to Hogwarts” from the show joined by an ensemble of acclaimed stage performers, including Glee’s Alex Newell (Shucked, Once on This Island), Jak Malone (Operation Mincemeat), Natasha Hodgson (Operation Mincemeat) and Andrew Barth Feldman (Dear Evan Hansen, Little Shop of Horrors).

He returned to the Glee world one last time for Sunday’s shows by performing with a local youth choir for Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know” and Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” two songs he famously covered on the Fox musical comedy, as the grand finale.

Since his time on Glee, Colfer has gone on to win an Emmy and Golden Globe for his role in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as well as a Tony for Maybe Happy Ending.