In 2004, he was diagnosed with cancer of the bile duct and began radiation treatment. Within six months of surgery, he was on tour again throwing himself right back into the hard-driving full-force stage shows that included a mechanical bucking machine. In 2000, he was diagnosed with a liver disease and successfully underwent a liver transplant. He recorded 36 albums during his career and sold nearly six million records. LeDoux had recorded 22 albums of his own, when Garth Brooks mentioned his name in the 1989 hit song, 'Much Too Young (To Be This Damn Old).' As a result, LeDoux's music became more widely known, and he went on to sign with Brooks' record label, Capitol Records. He began recording songs in the early 1970s and went on to national stardom with such songs as 'A Cowboy Like Me,' 'Too Tough to Die' and 'What More Could a Cowboy Need?' His songs captured the romance, the freedom, the dirt and the hurt of rodeo. LeDoux retired from competition in 1980, but continued writing and singing about the rodeo life. In 1976, he won the bareback riding world title. He joined the PRCA in 1968 and qualified for the National Finals Rodeo five times.
2, 1948, in Biloxi, Miss., LeDoux got his start in junior rodeo and at the same time became absorbed in music.
