Country music singer Phil Vassar is making the most of life after he nearly lost his back in 2023.
The “Just Another Day In Paradise” singer was on a Christmas tour with Deanna Carter when he suffered both a heart attack and a stroke, and horrifyingly “dropped dead” twice. A medical team was on the premises and quickly jumped into action to try and save the artist’s life. They shocked Vassar 11 separate times, and even cracked some of his ribs in the process.
As Vassar told Fox News Digital:
“The lifesaving crew, these guys… what they do is just amazing. They could have given up, but they just kept going. They blasted me back to life. I wish I could tell you more about it, but I don’t know. I just remember I wasn’t feeling well and just something wasn’t right.”
Having his life saved was just the beginning of the country artist’s long journey back to normalcy.
Vassar had to endure months of therapy, and there was even some concern that he’d no longer be able to play instruments that he had mastered over the years. As he tells the story, playing piano suddenly came back to him while he was in the middle of his rehabilitation, and he was honestly surprised that this health scare happened to him:
“It was definitely slow… learning how to walk again and getting back on the treadmill. They brought a piano in my room at rehab and I just sat and looked at it for a while. They said, I just started playing… it kind of came back, and I was very, very, glad to have that happen.
I’m just getting back into the working out. Do more bike riding and walking, get into the weight room a little bit. But I really thought I was in shape. I just didn’t feel well. I had 3% body fat when I dropped dead.”
The road to recovery lasted over a year, and the singer-songwriter who became a household name in the early 2000’s is just now getting back to playing music again. Though he’s happy to be able to get back to doing what he loves, he’s most grateful about simply being alive.
Vassar suggested that the whole experience has strengthened his faith in God:
“I’m very blessed to be alive. God has blessed me immensely. Especially these times you really count on your faith to kind of pull you through. I don’t know how many times I was sitting in a room, in the dark, or not knowing what was going on and… you pray.
You come out on the other side with a different view on life for sure. I feel great, I feel physically wonderful, and mentally I’m just kind of getting back to normal.”
Now, Vassar is about to embark on his “25 Years of Paradise” Tour, which will see him hit the road during the summer and playing shows in Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. And while we’re talking about paradise, might as well fire up Phil’s “Just Another Day In Paradise.”
Turn it up: