Country singer Colt Ford, 54, suffers heart attack after performance in Arizona with star in intensive care unit  - three years after eye cancer battle

Country singer Colt Ford suffered a heart attack after a performance at an Arizona bar on Thursday.

The star, 54, had the heart attack after performing at Dierks Bently's Whiskey Row in Gilbert and is now in the Intensive Care Unit at the Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, Arizona, his spokesman told 9News.

Ford has a history of health problems, including eye cancer and autoimmune disease Myasthenia Gravis.

Three years ago he revealed he had undergone surgery for eye cancer, telling People: 'The doctor told me I was a week to 10 days from having to go on full chemo.'

He first went to the doctor after a friend noticed a spot on his eye. 

Country singer Colt Ford suffered a heart attack after a performance at an Arizona bar on Thursday (pictured 2011)

The star, 54, had the heart attack after performing at Dierks Bently's Whiskey Row in Gilbert and is now in the Intensive Care Unit at the Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, Arizona, his spokesman told 9News  

He said: 'I went to a doctor in Georgia that specialized in cataracts and all that stuff, and I remember them saying, 'This ain't good' and 'You gotta get this out,'' recalls Ford, 51. 'They wanted me to go see a cornea specialist, Dr. Uyen Tran, in Nashville, and that's when I started getting really nervous.' 

Following surgery, Ford resumed his music career and was able to treat the cancer with chemotherapy drops.

He released his last album - Must Be The Country - in 2023 which included songs with Tracy Lawrence, Tracy Byrd and Dillon Carmichael.

Last year he opened up about his health battles and how it encouraged him to take care of himself.  

He told Taste of Country: 'I've gotten in a lot better shape, and I just feel great. My life is in a great place. I'm getting married in October. I found my person. And I'm just as happy and excited as I've been about music, which is kind of hard to believe. I feel like I'm not even making my best music.

'Last year I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Myasthenia Gravis. it's been tough. The last year quite honestly got really hard for me. It's a disease and there's no cure for this.'

He said the condition 'affects the muscles in your face, your eyes, and your throat. It hadn't really affected my throat, but it really affected my eye. I had no control over my right eye. It really messes with your vision. I could see perfectly out of either eye, but then I would look together and I'd see three of you and you would be melting together like a lava lamp.'

'There is a terrible fatigue factor that comes from it. They say there's no cure, but this doctor has me on these supplements that are really helping me. I'm in a dang better place than I was.'

Ford has a history of health problems, including eye cancer and autoimmune disease Myasthenia Gravis (pictured 2021)

He released his last album - Must Be The Country - in 2023 which included songs with Tracy Lawrence, Tracy Byrd and Dillon Carmichael (pictured 2016)

Ford broke onto the music scene in 2008 with debut album Ride Through the Country.

He is a co-writer on and originally recorded on Dirt Road Anthem with Brantley Gilbert - the track   become a No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hit for Jason Aldean in 2011. 

Ford wrote the theme song "Buck 'em" for the Professional Bull Riders association. 

Ford's fourth album, Declaration of Independence, became his first number 1 album on Top Country Albums.