Grammy Winner And Frequent Late Night Guest John Prine 'Critically' Ill With Coronavirus

John Prine has covid-19

As the rates of Covid-19 infection have spread across the United States, people of various ages and professions have all dealt with the effects of the disease. This includes celebrities like Tom Hanks, Daniel Dae Kim and now John Prine, who is “critical” and in the hospital while dealing with the effects of the disease.

News broke over the week that John Prine had been hospitalized after contracting coronavirus. The disease seemingly progressed swiftly, according to reports from his family. His family announced the news on Twitter, noting more about what has been going on with the singer at that time.

After a sudden onset of Covid-19 symptoms, John was hospitalized on Thursday (3/26). He was intubated Saturday evening, and continues to receive care, but his situation is critical. This is hard news for us to share.

His family went on to explain they felt they owed the truth of what was happened to John Prine’s fans who have been listening to his music for decades. The singer-songwriter is 73 and has been around in the music business for many years.

A country artist and frequent late night musical guest, John Prine has been performing in the United States for decades. His first self-titled album came out back in 1971. Over the years, John Prine took his music to television through various forums including a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2018.

Previously, John Prine had also appeared on Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien’s late night shows. In addition, way back in 1976 Prine was the special musical guest on an early episode of Saturday Night Live. In particular, a 2016 appearance with Colbert is affecting.

The news comes as Covid-19 patients around the world have been hospitalized after suffering difficulty breathing due to the effects of the disease. Many celebrities who have been confirmed positive have been able to self-quarantine at home, although programming like Andy Cohen's new Watch What Happens Liveat home had to be postponed due to his own coronavirus fight.

Country singer Joe Diffie died over the weekend after testing positive for coronavirus and the world also lost CBS news producer Maria Mercader. Top Chef had a special message prior to this past week’s episode for Floyd Cardoz, who died on March 25. The world has also said goodbye to Terrence McNally and Mark Blum.

Other celebrities have helped hospitals and other organizations during the Covid-19 fight by donating money, including the likes of Bob Iger and James McAvoy.

Meanwhile, John Prine is still fighting the good fight afters the novel coronavirus. Our hearts go out to him and his family during this crazy, crazy time.

On one bright note, there’s a lot of great John Prine music out in the world, so if you haven’t checked out the longtime artist before, now is a great time to do so.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.