Daron Norwood, Country Singer Known For ‘Cowboys Don’t Cry’, Passes Away at 49

Daron Norwood, the country singer whose few hits in the early 1990s included “Cowboys Don’t Cry,” has been found dead at his home in Hereford, Texas. He was 49.

As the Boot reports, Norwood was last seen Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, his landlord went to check on him, let himself into Norwood’s apartment, and found him dead. His body found no signs of trauma, and foul play is not suspected.

Daron Norwood released his self-titled EP in 1994. His second effort, 1995’s Ready, Willing, and Able, spawned two Top 30 hits on the country charts — “If It Wasn’t For Her I Wouldn’t Have You” and “Cowboys Don’t Cry” — and put Norwood on the cusp of being a major country music star, according to KJTV (Lubbock).

Unfortunately, Norwood’s well-documented problems with alcoholism kept him from going far in the music business, and he was forced to retire. By the time of his death, his music career consisted mostly of local gigs here and there around Lubbock.

In a 1998 interview with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Norwood talked about the toll alcoholism had taken on himself and his career.

”I loved Jack Daniels and Jack Daniels hated me. I was so far down that I should have died. I was averaging 20 to 25 shots of Jack Daniels a night. I was at the bottom. I had nothing left to give. Everything a guy could want, I had. It seemed to a lot of my followers that I was on cloud nine and that my career was moving forward, but that just wasn’t so. I had misused the life and career God had given me, and now I felt like he was tapping me on the shoulder. My dream had come true, but now it was fading away in alcohol and drugs.”

Norwood would be in and out of rehab for the rest of his life. He’d also have trouble with the law — in 2009, he was arrested for battering his wife.

And in a bizarre 2009 incident, Norwood was asked to speak to a Texas high school’s students about the dangers of drugs and alcoholism. Instead, according to All Access, Norwood spent two hours running around the gym, using profane language, and shouting at teachers and students. Ultimately, a teacher had to pull a fire alarm to move the kids out of the gym. Police came and escorted Norwood from the school.

As of this post, authorities have not revealed Daron Norwood’s cause of death.

[Image courtesy of YouTube]