John Anderson, the country singer-songwriter whose 1991 single Straight Tequila Night became one of the most recognized tequila references in American music, died Wednesday, October 21, 2026, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 71.
His family announced the death in a statement posted to his official social media accounts, writing that he had died peacefully in his sleep. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which inducted Anderson in 2024, confirmed the death in its own statement.
What Straight Tequila Night actually was and when it charted
Straight Tequila Night was written by Debbie Hupp and Kent Robbins, produced by James Stroud, and released December 2, 1991 on BNA Records as the second single from Anderson's album Seminole Wind. The song reached number one on both the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in the United States and the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.
The single marked Anderson's first number one record since 1983's Black Sheep, and it is widely credited as his commercial comeback after a stretch of declining chart performance in the late 1980s. The parent album, Seminole Wind, was released February 11, 1992, also on BNA, and went on to be certified double platinum by the RIAA, the highest certification of any Anderson record. The album also produced the top five hit Seminole Wind and earned Anderson three Country Music Association nominations: Male Vocalist, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year.
The career that ran alongside one song about tequila
Anderson was born December 13, 1954, and grew up in Apopka, Florida, before relocating to Nashville in 1971. One of his early jobs in the city involved nailing shingles onto the roof of the Grand Ole Opry House ahead of its 1974 opening. He released his first single, I've Got a Feelin' (Somebody's Been Stealin'), in 1977 and signed with Warner Bros. Records, breaking through commercially with Swingin' in 1983, which remains his best known early hit.
Over a career that spanned more than 40 charted singles, Anderson recorded five number one country hits: Wild and Blue, Swingin', Black Sheep, Straight Tequila Night, and Money in the Bank, according to the Country Music Hall of Fame. He released 22 studio albums across several labels and received the Academy of Country Music's Career Achievement Award in 1993. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2024. Four days before his death, on Sunday, October 18, 2026, Anderson attended the Hall of Fame's Medallion Ceremony to help induct that year's honorees.
What his peers and the Hall of Fame said
Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said Anderson "was a one-of-a-kind song stylist who proved that fresh innovations were best born from time-honored traditions." Tim McGraw wrote that he had spoken with Anderson by phone the Sunday night before his death. Blake Shelton posted that he was "sick and stunned" by the loss.
Anderson's family described him in their statement as a devoted husband, father and grandfather, writing that they were "completely heartbroken." As of this reporting, no outlet covering the story, including Fox News, Billboard, Newsweek and local Nashville affiliates, has published a specific cause of death beyond the family's description of a peaceful passing in his sleep.