Colleen Brooks, mother of country music superstar Garth Brooks [ tickets ], died on Friday afternoon (8/6) after a long battle with throat cancer. The elder Brooks had undergone chemotherapy and surgeries in California in recent months, but had recently been moved to an Oklahoma City facility, according to a Sunday report in The Oklahoman.

Garth Brooks dedicated the track ''It's Your Song'' on 1998's Double Live to his mother and brought her on the road with him during periods when she was in better health.

In a 1998 interview with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Brooks spoke at length about his mother's surgeries, noting how heartbreaking it was for her as a singer to face an inability to speak as a result of her treatment. Brooks took a leave of absence from his spring training stint with the San Diego Padres earlier this year to be with his mother after one reported surgery at the UCLA Medical Center near Los Angeles.

According to The Oklahoman, Colleen Brooks was signed to Capitol Records in the 50's as Colleen Carroll, and appeared regularly with Red Foley's Ozark Jubilee.

A formal statement from the Brooks family is expected early in the week.