Charles Kelley Reveals Blood Cancer Diagnosis: ‘I Can Still Work’

• Charles Kelley, 45, the co-lead singer of Lady A, revealed on Instagram on Tuesday, Sept. 29, that he has multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer.
• Two “random” rib fractures led his doctor to order blood tests, and one of them found the cancer. His wife, Cassie, sat beside him in the video.
• “I can still work,” he said. Lady A played three shows last weekend, and its Christmas tour runs Dec. 10 to 21.

Charles Kelley, 45, the co-lead singer and a founding member of Lady A, revealed on Tuesday, Sept. 29, that he has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer.

He shared the news in an Instagram video with his wife, Cassie McConnell Kelley, captioned “A little health update.” He said he feels hopeful and wants to keep working through treatment.

How did Charles Kelley find out he had cancer?

It started with his ribs. “I had [a] couple random rib fractures that happened, which sparked my doctor into having me do several different blood tests,” he said in the video.

“And one of the last blood tests we did, they found a blood cancer in there called multiple myeloma, and it’s rare,” he continued. He did not say exactly when he got the diagnosis, only that he already knew when Lady A went back on the road last weekend.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells, which crowd out the normal cells in the bone marrow that make red blood cells, platelets and other white blood cells, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I’m young, I feel healthy, and the treatments I will say have just come so far, even in the past five years. Even life expectancy just far exceeds what it used to be and, I don’t know, I feel really hopeful. I really do.

Charles Kelley, on Instagram

He added that he has been leaning on a friend who has also been diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

Is Charles Kelley still performing with Lady A?

Yes, for now. “I can still work,” he said. “I think physically I will feel like myself. I’ll have tough days, but you know, I wanna keep working.”

He mentioned the first six months of his treatment plan without saying when it starts, and said he doesn’t expect it to be “too super invasive.”

The band was on the road the weekend before the announcement: Sept. 25 at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma, Sept. 26 in El Paso, Texas, and Sept. 27 at the Orpheum Theatre in Wichita, Kansas, according to the tour calendar on Lady A’s website.

“Even going out last weekend after even knowing the news, it was like this is where I belong,” he said.

Next up is This Winter’s Night, a run of eight Christmas shows. Lady A has not announced any change to these dates:

• Dec. 10: Northfield, Ohio
• Dec. 11: Gary, Indiana
• Dec. 12: Shipshewana, Indiana
• Dec. 17: New York
• Dec. 18: Bensalem, Pennsylvania
• Dec. 19: Greensboro, North Carolina
• Dec. 21: Nashville, a matinee and an evening show

After that, the band is listed for the Boots on the Water Cruise in Miami on Feb. 7, 2027.

What did Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood say?

His bandmates answered in the comments. Hillary Scott wrote, “The strongest duo right here! Love y’all so much! You’ve got this!” Dave Haywood added, “Covering you in prayer brother. Love y’all. We’re all here for you!”

The three had just released “I Love The One,” a song with Boyz II Men for the series The Chosen, on Sept. 25. Boyz II Men posted a behind-the-scenes video of the session on Sept. 28, a day before the diagnosis went public.

What has Charles Kelley said about his sobriety?

He tied the way he is handling the diagnosis to his recovery. He began it in August 2022, after Lady A postponed the rest of its Request Line Tour so he could focus on getting sober.

“I think in sobriety it’s all about one day at a time and that we’re not in control, and so that’s the way we’re looking at it,” he said on Tuesday.

Going public helped then and helps now, he added: “Just getting this stuff off your chest is so freeing, and it takes the power away from it a little bit.”

“As Far As You Could,” the song he wrote with Haywood and producer Jimmy Robbins and released in December 2022, is the one he has called a goodbye letter to alcohol. This is the official live version, filmed at shows in London, Glasgow and Dublin.

“We’re going to get through it,” he said in the video. “I’ll try to let you in when I feel like it’s appropriate throughout the journey.”

More from Music: Will Reeve on the lump that turned out to be cancer, Chad Gilbert’s five years talking openly about his cancer and how Ella Langley’s ‘Choosin’ Texas’ broke the country chart record.

— Bruno Monteiro

Sources: Charles Kelley and Cassie McConnell Kelley, Instagram video, Sept. 29, 2026; comments by Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood on the post; Lady A official tour calendar (ladyamusic.com); Good Morning America (Angeline Jane Bernabe), Sept. 29, 2026; Variety, Sept. 29, 2026. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (definition of multiple myeloma). Photos and video: CBS Mornings (CBS News), 2023; Boyz II Men official channel, Sept. 28, 2026; Charles Kelley official channel (“As Far As You Could” live video, 2023, Big Machine Label Group; “Driving and Listening to Music” visualizer, 2026); American Songwriter; Jam in the Van; CMT Crossroads (CMT).