Lady A’s Charles Kelley Shares the Medical Test That Exposed His ‘Rare’ Cancer Diagnosis as He Gives Update on His ‘Life Expectancy’
Charles Kelley, best known for co-founding the country music group Lady A, has been diagnosed with cancer. The singer and his wife, Cassie Kelley, announced his diagnosis in a social media video posted on Tuesday, September 29, revealing that after a few “random rib features,” his doctor conducted “several different blood tests” to figure out what was going on.
“One of the last blood tests we did, they found a blood cancer in there called multiple myeloma,” he revealed. “It’s rare. But I’m young; I feel healthy.” Kelley pointed out that the treatments “have just come so far even in the past five years,” adding that the “life expectancy far exceeds what it used to be.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the five-year survival rate for those with multiple myeloma is 62 percent. The clinic noted that the survival rate is higher, approximately 80 percent, when it’s “diagnosed in the early stages.”
Kelley told fans that he has a friend who’s also been diagnosed with cancer, and watching her journey has “really helped” him face his own cancer battle.
“I feel really hopeful,” he continued. “I think in the same spirit of the way we’ve shared a lot of my sobriety journey, just getting this stuff off your chest is so freeing and it takes the power away from it a little bit. We wanted to let you all know what was going on, and we’re gonna get through it.”
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Kelley has been open about his sobriety journey. He checked into a rehab facility in 2022 for alcohol addiction, and in July 2026, he celebrated four years of sobriety.
“In sobriety, it’s all about one day at a time, and that we’re not in control, so that’s the way we’re looking at it,” he explained. “I mean, right now, I feel great. We got a new record coming out soon with Lady A and then we got Christmas shows and this first six months of treatment, I believe, is not going to be too super invasive. I can still work. I think physically I will feel like myself. I’ll have tough days, but I want to keep working.”
The seven-time Grammy winner told his followers that he plans on going about his normal day-to-day life, performing and spending time with his loved ones. “I need to be happy and doing what I love to do and spending and soaking up as much time with my family as I can as well. But I’m hopeful. I really am. But we just wanted to let you all know and I’ll try to let you in when I feel like it’s appropriate throughout the journey. It’s just another hurdle and I feel confident that we’re gonna get through it.”
