LOS ANGELES – Grammy-winning US singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow has been diagnosed with a benign brain tumor, she said in comments published Tuesday.
The country-pop star, who survived breast cancer diagnosed in 2006, said doctors found the tumor in November, after she had a brain scan because she was concerned about memory loss.
“I worried about my memory so much that I went and got an MRI (scan). And I found out I have a brain tumor,” she told the Las Vegas Revue Journal newspaper. “And I was, like, ‘See? I knew there was something wrong.'”
“I haven’t really talked about it,” she said. “In November, I found out I have a brain tumor. But it’s benign, so I don’t have to worry about it,” added the 50-year-old.
The singer recalled how she forgot part of her hit “Soak Up the Sun” on stage in Florida last month, using an expletive to tell the crowd: “I’m 50, what can I say? My brain’s gone to …”
But she told the newspaper: “I have a history of forgetting my lyrics,” relating one time in the 1990s when she forgot the intro to “A Change Would Do You Good.”
“Not only could I not remember the first line, I couldn’t remember the first line to any of the verses… I started laughing so hard! And I looked over at my guitar player, and he’s bent over like he’s going to just start peeing.”
Crow, whose hits also include “All I Wanna Do” and “Leaving Las Vegas,” was engaged to cyclist Lance Armstrong, who survived testicular cancer before going on to win the Tour de France seven times consecutively.
The couple dated from 2003 and announced their engagement in 2005, but split shortly before she was diagnosed with breast cancer the following year. She overcame it with minor surgery and radiation therapy.
In May 2007, she announced that she had adopted a two-week old baby boy, named Wyatt Steven after her father and brother. She adopted another boy, named Levi James Crow, in 2010, according to media reports.
Crow has won nine Grammys, including best new artist and best female pop vocal and record of the year in 1994 for “All I Wanna Do,” and best female rock vocal in 1996, 1999, 2000 and 2002.