Muni Long reveals she underwent double lung transplant after exiting Brandy and Monica tour: 'My jaw dropped'

Emlyn TravisTue, June 23, 2026 at 6:22 PM UTC

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Muni LongCredit: Emma McIntyre/GettyKey Points -

Muni Long reveals she underwent a double lung transplant after departing Brandy and Monica's tour last year.

The singer said she was hospitalized and informed by doctors that she only had a week to live.

Now, six months later, the Grammy winner is feeling "fabulous."

Muni Long is opening up about a frightening health scare in which doctors informed her that she had just one week left to live.

The 37-year-old "Made for Me" singer, born Priscilla Renea Hamilton, revealed that she underwent a double lung transplant after being hospitalized following her departure from Brandy and Monica's tour last year.

"The road is tough, even when you are healthy," Long said on Tuesday's episode ofGood Morning America. "I should have never taken that tour. But there was so much going on in my life where I had to do it."

Muni Long in 2025Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty

The Grammy-winning artist, who was diagnosed with lupus in 2014, explained that she "got really sick" and developed pneumonia while on the road but still tried to push through the illness.

"I went back and I think, maybe five or six dates in, it was just like… I couldn't even get out of the bed to make my call time for stage," she recalled. "And the last show, I just barely made it. I was only able to do two songs."

Afterward, Long's family and team recommended that she step away from the tour to properly recuperate. "I came home for Thanksgiving and I woke up in the hospital," she added.

The songwriter admitted that she'd known "for a really long time that something was wrong," but hadn't gotten her symptoms checked. "Every day I'm, like, spitting in cups and coughing all the time. Trying to take all these medicines to get through the day," she said. "With this industry, you're always in people's faces. So, I'm taking pictures, and I'm just huffing and puffing like I just ran a marathon."

Long noted that she felt "so much better" after waking up in the hospital, only for a team of doctors to inform her that she only had one week left to live and required a double lung transplant.

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"My jaw dropped. Literally. I was like, 'That's rude,'" she told Robin Roberts. "But they were kind of like, 'This is not a joke. You need to make a choice. You can either go to hospice or you can get these lungs.'"

The vocalist acknowledged that she was initially uncertain about going through with the procedure because of how it might affect her voice, but that she chose to go through with it for her son. "The ego and the vanity was just like, 'But what about my voice? What's going to happen?'" Long said. "But then I look at my son, and I think about how much more life that I have to live. Quality of life was first. I can't sing if I'm not here."

Now, the singer is doing "fabulous" six months after the operation. "Tomorrow is my last appointment for all the things," Long said. "No symptoms. Asymptomatic. No infections. None of that. Then I have my vocal checkup, six months will be in August because I had to have vocal surgery, as well."

She has also released a new single, titled "The Riches," which was recorded prior to her health scare. "My voice now is totally different. It's actually better, should I say?" she said. Still, she cautioned, "But I don't know that I can perform yet. They gave me six months to a year."

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Long announced her departure from Brandy and Monica's tour in a since-deleted Instagram post last November. "As many of you know, I've been battling some health issues throughout The Boy Is Mine Tour," she wrote. "Despite doing everything I can to push through, my doctors have made it clear that it's not safe for me to continue with the remaining dates of the tour."

She continued, "I'll truly miss seeing you all out there, and I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity. Thank you to Brandy and Monica for having me and sharing the stage with me. I can't wait to see you all again. Stronger than ever."

Listen to Long discuss her double lung transplant in the clip above.

on Entertainment Weekly

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