Country singer Alan Jackson revealed that he wants to spend his remaining life surrounded by his daughter, grandchildren, and wife after giving his final tour, “The Last Call: One More for the Road Tour,” ready to kick off on August 2, 2024.
The tour was initially set for 2022, in sold-out-arenas to standing-room-only crowds, but unfortunately, his news of suffering from a genetic degenerative nerve condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth postponed it.
Jackson made the announcement during the Today Show on September 28, 2021, that he had the diagnosis ten years ago, so he was reluctant to face his fans.
However, Alan Jackson daringly accepted his condition and wanted to give his fans the best show covering his three-decades-long career.
So, Jackson announced his extended tour dates on May 31, 2024, which include 10 shows in different cities. Sadly, each of these cities will relish his last performance.
Alan Jackson’s disease is hereditary, as his father, grandmother, and sister also had CMT
The best-selling music artist Alan Jackson is 66 years old, born on October 17, 1958, to parents Joseph Eugene “Daddy Gene” Jackson and Ruth Musick “Mama Ruth” Jackson in Newnan, Georgia.
He grew up alongside his English-descendant family, which included his four sisters: Diane, Carol, Cathy, and Connie.
The Jackson siblings and Joseph Jackson were against the singer’s endeavor into music and wanted him to keep it as a hobby during his childhood.
However, Jackson’s determination later led him to be the top country singer, with over 60 million albums sold.
Yet, success comes with a price. Jackson’s initial years were normal until his sister and father had problems with their feet, leading to imbalance. Diagnosis of CMT was difficult until a neurologist concluded it.
Jackson’s eldest sister, Diane Jackson Dawson, was the first among the siblings to have the CMT at 60, which affected the peripheral nerves, leading to muscle weakness and loss of sensation in the legs and feet.
This was not new for the family, as Jackson mentioned in the interview with Today that this disease is hereditary and transferred from his grandmother to his father and siblings.
The symptoms later were visible in Jackson when he was 52 and gradually began to be noticeable, impacting his performance on stage.
Now, Alan Jackson wants to end his three-decade-long career in the most iconic way. He said that he has been doing tours for thirty years and would want to be with his family and grandchildren while recuperating his health.
Jackson wanted to maintain his legacy, so he promised to give “the songs that made me who I am today – the ones they love.“
Additional Information
- Alan Jackson lives in his $3 million mansion in Nashville with his college sweetheart-turned-wife, Denise Jackson. They married on December 15, 1979, and share three daughters: Mattie Denise Selecman, Alexandra Jane Ali, and Dani Grace.
- His condition is not deadly and does not impact the life expectancy of a person, but the disease does hamper his physical condition.
- Once, Alan Jackson was on the verge of separation from Denise due to infidelity, but the couple reconciled and have been together for over 44 years.
