February 12, 2001 17:21

CASH SERIOUSLY ILL

The country legend is in a Nashville hospital suffering from pneumonia...

JOHNNY CASH has been admitted to hospital suffering from pneumonia, according to reports from the US.

The music legend was admitted to Baptist Hospital in Nashville yesterday morning (February 11) and according to www.billboard.com, the 68-year-old is in a serious but stable condition.

Johnny Cash was treated for pneumonia during a two-week stay in the same hospital in October 1999. A year earlier, he was admitted twice for the same condition and was said to have nearly died.

Cash was diagnosed with Shy-Drager's syndrome, a degenerative disease that attacks the nervous system in a manner akin to Parkinson's disease, in 1997. He was later told he was misdiagnosed, though the true cause of his symptoms was never established.

Despite his illness, Cash had a successful 2000, with the release of a new album, the Rick Rubin-produced 'Solitary Man' and the 'Love God Murder' triple-album retrospective. He has been nominated for two Grammy Awards, for Best Contemporary Folk Album for 'Solitary Man' and for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the title-track.

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