Randy Travis

Travis married his long-time manager and girlfriend Elizabeth Hatcher in 1991 in Maui but their marriage ended in divorce in 2010, which ended their business association as well.

He was admitted to hospital in Dallas for viral cadiomyopathy after a viral upper respiratory infection in 2013; his condition was reported critical at the time. He suffered a stroke while in hospital and went through a brain surgery.

Randy Travis was born in Marshville, North Carolina to Bobbie Tucker and Harold Traywick. His father was a horse breeder, turkey farmer, substitute school teacher and a construction business owner, and mother was a textile factory worker.

Travis’ musical talent was supported by his father who was a fan of singers like Hank Williams, George Jones, etc. and at the age of 8, he began playing guitar and singing in the church.

His brother, Ricky, was also into singing and by the time Travis turned 10, he and his brother started to pursue their musical aspiration as ‘Traywick Brothers’ by performing at local clubs and in local talent shows.

Travis had a bit of an aggressive childhood - he fought with his father a lot and also dropped out of school. He was arrested as juvenile delinquent on several occasions, for offenses like theft and burglary.

In 1975, Travis finally won a local talent contest at a nightclub in North Carolina. The owner of the club, Elizabeth Hatcher, hired him as a cook and gave him regular opportunities to sing at the club.

Hatcher became Travis’ manager and they both started to concentrate on his musical career. In 1978, he released his first album, ‘Randy Traywick’, with Paula Records. The album did not do very well commercially.

Travis and Hatcher moved to Tennessee and struggled for many years by doing menial jobs before Travis was signed by Warner Bros. Records in 1985. His first single ‘On The Other Hand’ unfortunately bombed on the charts.

Despite the failure of his first single with the Warner Bros. Records, they released his second single, ‘1982’ in 1986 and this time the track earned the Top 10 position on the country music charts.

After the success of ‘1982’, ‘On The Other Hand’ was re-released by the recording company, in the expectation of getting a better response this time and the track did very well on the charts. It elevated to No.1 position.

This led to the release of Travis’ first album, ‘Storms of Life’ and both the tracks—‘1982’ and ‘On The Other Hand’ were included in it. The album peaked at No.1 on the country music charts.

Beginning his career as a country singer, he won many accolades including Grammy Awards and was ranked 13 on CMT’s 40 Greatest Men of Country Music, later he turned to acting and gospel singing.