NEED TO KNOW
Sheryl Crow knows she has fans from every generation, including the younger ones.
The country superstar, 63, opened up about why she believes her supporters are of all ages while speaking with PEOPLE at the Saturday, Aug. 9, red carpet in Nashville for Stand Up to Cancer’s annual televised fundraising special that will air on Friday, Aug. 15.
Crow says she believes this is because “the music that you gravitate to is the music that you’ve made a lot of memories to.”
The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!
Taylor Hill/Getty
“When I hear stuff from like the ’80s or you know, ’90s, I go, ‘Oh my God, I remember where I was when I heard that,’ ” she continues. “And so for some of these young people, their parents were playing my music and they had memories like water skiing to ‘Soak Up the Sun’ and things like that.”
Noting that “music makes us feel and it makes us remember and it brings us together,” Crow adds that she also has things working in her favor.
“I’m a chick, right? That is still going. And so I think for these young women also, I’m sort of a good illustration that you can keep going and keep going and still write music and play,” says Crow.
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty
Stand Up to Cancer is close to Crow’s heart as she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in 2006. After seven weeks of radiation therapy, she was declared cancer-free, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Crow says that when it comes to working with Stand Up to Cancer, she’s “all in,” as the event helps raise funding for all the “great work.”
“I’m celebrating 20 years this coming April of being cancer-free. So to me, it’s about showing up for the people that I know right now who are battling, but also celebrating the fact that I was caught early,” she says.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Stand Up to Cancer airs on Aug. 15, at 8 p.m. ET and PT / 7 p.m. CT, on all four major broadcast networks, commercial-free, and will also be streaming online. To donate, visit here.
