Doug Supernaw Cancer Diagnosis Comes Amid Career Resurgence
This was supposed to be 90’s country music star Doug Supernaw‘s second chapter in a troubled, but accomplished country music career. Instead, he’s now fighting for his life in a Houston area hospital due to a very serious Cancer diagnosis. If anyone’s story has played out like a sad country song, it’s been Doug Supernaw’s.
“After struggling with a prolonged cough, Doug was admitted to the hospital on January 25th, where it was determined he was suffering from Pneumonia,” a spokesperson explained on February 2nd. “Additional tests found fluid on his heart and lungs which put his heart in an A-Fib condition. Additional tests also found a suspicious mass in his right lung. It was then determined that it was in Doug’s best interest that he be transferred to another Houston area hospital.”
It was at that Houston area hospital that doctors confirmed that Doug Supernaw had numerous Cancerous masses in his lungs, lymph nodes, bones, and bladder, and he was diagnosed with Stage IV lung and bladder Cancer. He currently remains in the hospital as doctors decide a treatment plan.
Doug Supernaw was one of the hottest names in country music in the early 90’s, with strong traditional country hits such as “I Don’t Call Him Daddy,” “Reno,” and “Not Enough Hours in the Night.” Signed to BNA Records and with a big following in his native state of Texas, Supernaw had a bright future in country music, earning a Song of the Year nomination for “I Don’t Call Him Daddy” from the ACM Awards in 1996. But as sometimes will happen to country artists, Doug Supernaw began living out the stories of his songs, and he started to drop out of the fold, and hard.
By the late 90’s and into the 2000’s, Doug Supernaw had assembled a rap sheet that included arrests for public intoxication, driving while intoxicated, and things began to spiral down from there. By the late 2000’s, stories began to emerge about Supernaw’s mental state, including his theories about conspiracies against him.
2011 found Supernaw 12 years removed from releasing his last album, living in the Texas Hill Country town of Bandera, reportedly sleeping on top of a pool table in a local pub, and trying to trade discarded television sets for sandwiches. After numerous incidents in Bandera, Supernaw was arrested and put under evaluation. At this point fans of the singer had moved far beyond worries of when he may release new music, and were simply concerned for his well-being.
But in 2016 and at 55-years-old, Supernaw started to attempt to emerge from his troubled past, and restart his country music career after a 20 year absence. Supernaw was inducted into the CMA of Texas Hall Of Fame in 2016. He recorded a Greatest Hits album and released it on April 1st, 2017. The album was comprised of new studio recordings of some of his classics, as well as two new songs, “Here’s My Heart” and “The Company I Keep.” Supernaw was taking a one-step-at-a-time approach, and it was working. Supernaw also started playing more live shows.
“Doug fell on some hard times for some very specific reasons,” Doug Supernaw’s manager BJ Mezek told Saving Country Music in 2017. “Once he hit his all-time low, he realized that there was two sides to his life, and he chose to get back to the more positive side. Through that, he started making his way, cleaning up, and realizing that it’s not going to happen overnight. He started doing some gigs in Texas near home, and then a songwriter by the name of Jerry J. Thomas asked me, ‘Do you remember Doug Supernaw?’ I met with him, we sat and talked, he had a show in the Houston, TX area, and I can say with absolute assurity that he’s back. He wants to get back into it, and he’s pretty serious about it.”
And now Doug Supernaw is facing a Stage IV lung and bladder Cancer diagnosis.
“We would like to thank Doug’s amazing medical team for working so diligently in both the care, and treatment, of our beloved Doug,” a spokesman says. “We would also like thank both our friends, and amazing fan base for the so many heart-felt prayers during this difficult time. We appreciate that you will continue to respect Doug and Doug’s family’s privacy during these trying times. We will continue to provide updates as necessary.”
A Go Fund Me Page has been set up to help Doug Supernaw with his medical expenses.
TwangBob
February 7, 2019 @ 10:02 am
Sad to hear of his health condition. Prayers for Doug Supernaw.
Shastacatfish
February 7, 2019 @ 12:32 pm
Makes a song like Fadin’ Renegade all the more poignant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNr04x4hmo
(I know he’s not the first to record it but he’s owning it now).
Piller
February 7, 2019 @ 1:40 pm
y Overstreet did a good job with that song, but Doug Supernaw did it even better. Good luck beating cancer to him.
Larry Schulin
February 7, 2019 @ 12:57 pm
Best wishes Doug…I’ve enjoyed your recent shows at Main Street Crossing.
Piller
February 7, 2019 @ 1:32 pm
Everyone deserves a chance to turn their life around. I hope beats the cancer and continues on the right path. Good luck from someone who lives somewhere between the Red and Rio Grande.
TXMUSICJIM
February 7, 2019 @ 1:36 pm
This truly sucks working hard day by day and getting his personal and professional life back on track and now this! God bless you brother!!!
Taylor
February 7, 2019 @ 4:29 pm
Hate to hear this, as Doug is one of my favorites. His song Me and The Drummer is one of the most relatable songs to me. I have always for years wanted to see him in concert. May God provide a healing hand to Doug. Prayers to him and the entire Supernaw family.
Sir Adam the Great
February 7, 2019 @ 5:08 pm
Wow, that’s grim. I loved the fact that he turned his life around and started making music again. God bless him and his family.
Anonymous
February 8, 2019 @ 12:04 pm
That’s really unfortunate.
We had a top country hits VHS of music videos when I was a little kid that included ‘I don’t call him daddy’. I remember rewinding and re-watching that over and over as a little girl, maybe five or six years old, when I missed my dad. As a kid the two weeks between every other weekend felt like how months feel now. Time is so slow when you are a kid and every other weekend is just not enough. I found comfort in the song because even as a really little kid I felt so strongly that nobody could ever come close to being what my dad was to me, even though he could barely make ends meet and we just sat around his house on the weekends. It really didn’t matter what we did, I just wanted to be with him.
We found out this past fall that my dad has stage 4 prostate cancer and small cell cancer both, it had already moved to about 12 places in his bones before we even knew anything was wrong, so it’s definitely terminal. I’ve found myself listening to ‘i don’t call him daddy’ on youtube these last few months, finding it nostalgic and comforting now again as an adult.
I’m thankful for his song.
LouAnn Stanley
February 8, 2019 @ 11:45 pm
My heart and Prayers🙏🏻 Go out to you Doug and to your family and all the fans who love you so much. I used to watch you at every show you did at the Oil Palace. My favorite was My Girl and you sing it for me every time you were there! There was no one else that could sing like you❤️
Get Well Friend the World Needs to Hear That Voice
I’m Praying for God to send a miracle in the making just for you
Don
February 9, 2019 @ 7:41 am
Doug was always one of my favorites and was part of my soundtrack back in the 90’s. Fadin Renegade ranks up there as one of my favorite albums of that particular decade. One of those right albums at the right time deals. I hate hearing this.
Luckyoldsun
February 9, 2019 @ 5:20 pm
Every hit song Doug Supernaw put out seemed to offend someone or other. The City of Reno objected to “The Lady’s a Lot Like Reno.” (“She ain’t got a heart/ And she don’t care when you’re down”) MADD didn’t like “State Fair” (because everyone was drinking and driving). Step-fathers complained about “I Don’t Call Him Daddy.” And then there was “What’ll You Do About Me,”–which everyone seemed to record but only Doug put it out as a single–where the protagnonist is a stalker.
It’s amazing that he had the success that he did, with all that controversy.
Anonymous
February 16, 2019 @ 6:33 pm
Hate to hear this. He was well on his way back till his whatever she is screwed it all up. Those of us in the business know what she is.
Jeffrey Jenkins
March 16, 2019 @ 12:02 pm
Dear Doug,
I pray that you recieve all these prayers and deep passion for what you have given all of us.
I was blessed to be a part of your life at one point. Your mom lived in Johnston City and I had a horse ranch just south of her. She brought me what she claimed was your horse. I boarded for her a while and got to know your mom well in her visits. She had a crazy friend that she ran with. We always had a good laugh in her visits. I got to see every “Doug Supernaw” roadie t-shirt there was. I heard all about your visious ex and then the gut wrenching loss of your mom. God rest her soul.
My ranch is till hanging in but the area has no more Supernaws around. You are missed. I hope this note finds you better and I pray that your hard core and integrity beat this thing. I look forward to the day we can sing together and we can both look back at how we beat cancer multiple times!! Dont give up ever buddy, you and mom are an inspiration to me and please give me that chance to buy you a beer!!
Sincerely yours,
Jeff
anonymous
May 15, 2019 @ 10:42 am
I knew Debbie, Doug’s 2nd wife. It is so sad to see him now and the people he is with. He literally had it all. My prayers for his former wives and all his kids, may their hearts be healed and they have the lives they deserve. I pray someday he admits what he has done and been through and becomes Doug Supernaw again. You cannot heal till you face your life.
Richard
September 2, 2019 @ 12:52 am
He was on his way back until the greedy POS he’s with ran the one guy off that believed in him, and paid out the nose to get him back out there. Shame on them both.