Joey Feek

In 2002, Joey met fellow singer Rory at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and fell in love with him. The couple soon tied the knot. After several years of marriage, they became parents to a daughter in 2014.

Joey was diagnosed with cervical cancer in June 2014. She underwent aggressive treatment to cure the disease but the cancer returned and spread to her colon. She began receiving in-house, end-of-life hospice palliative care at her home in November 2015.

She died of cervical cancer on March 4, 2016, at the age of 40.

Joey Feek was born on September 7, 1975 in Alexandria, Indiana, a small farming and factory town, to Jack and his wife June as one of their five children. Both of her parents are musically inclined—her father plays the guitar while her mother was a gospel singer.

Raised in a simple farming community, Joey grew up around horses, barns and cattle, and developed a love for country music. She loved to sing from a young age and gave her first performance ather first grade talent show, where she sang ‘Coat of Many Colors’ with her father playing guitar.

She idolized singers like Loretta, Patty and Dolly Parton and aspired to make it big as a professional singer.

After graduating from high school she took up ajob as an assistant for a horse veterinarian. She worked there for the next three years even as she simultaneously pursued her passion by singing around Madison county in a band and individually.

In the late 1990s Joey decided to move to Nashville in order to further her chances of building a successful singing career. In August 1998 she moved to a small rustic cabin in Lewisburg, an hour south of Nashville, to work for another horse veterinarian.

In addition to her job, she continued trying for singing opportunities and was able to sign a contract with Sony Records in 2000. She proceeded to record an album but industry problems prevented the album from being released. Disappointed but still hopeful, she recorded another album ‘Strong Enough to Cry’, in 2004. But this album too was shelved.

Married to fellow country singer Rory since 2002, the duo auditioned for CMT’s competition ‘Can You Duet’ in 2008. They cleared the audition and went on to become one of the favorite duos in the show. They eventually became the third-place finalist.

The show helped the couple—now known as Joey + Rory—garnersome much needed exposure in the music industry and they soon signed to Sugar Hill/Vanguard Records. Their debut album ‘The Life of a Song’ was released in October 2008. The album’s lead single ‘Cheater, Cheater’ was a Top 40 hit on the Billboard country charts.

Joey + Rory’s debut album ‘The Life of a Song’ spawned the single ‘Cheater, Cheater’ which became a Top 40 hit on the Hot Country Songs charts. The album itself debuted at No. 10 on the Top Country albums and at No. 61 on the Billboard 200, selling approximately 8,000 copies in the first week.