Coronavirus: Grammy-winning country music star Joe Diffie dies after contracting COVID-19

Grammy-winning country music star Joe Diffie has died two days after revealing he had contracted coronavirus.

The 61-year-old had a string of hits in the US in the 1990s and had two albums that went platinum.

On Friday, he announced he had tested positive for COVID-19 - the first country music star to go public with such a diagnosis.

Diffie's publicist Scott Adkins said the singer, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, died on Sunday due to complications from the virus .

The US has the most coronavirus cases in the world , with more than 136,000 suspected and confirmed infections, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the outbreak.

More than 2,400 people who have contracted COVID-19 have died in the US.

Diffe's hits included Honky Tonk Attitude, Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox (If I Die), Bigger Than The Beatles and If The Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets).

His mid-90s albums Honky Tonk Attitude and Third Rock From The Sun went platinum.

A total of 18 of Diffie's singles landed in the top 10 in the US country charts, with five going to number one.

Diffie won a Grammy Award in 1999 for best country collaboration for the song Same Old Train with Merle Haggard, Marty Stuart and others.

His last solo album was 2010's The Bluegrass Album: Homecoming.

Diffie is survived by his wife, Theresa Crump, and five children from his four marriages.

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