Obituary for Randy Travis
Randy Travis Obituary
Randy Lee Travis, 52, died Sunday, December 24, 2023, at Carolina Caring in Catawba County. He was born Sunday, March 28, 1971, in Catawba County to the late Earl Allen Travis and Shirley Hass Travis. Mr. Travis served his country as a proud Marine. He enjoyed listening to music, playing the guitar, cooking and playing chess.
He also enjoyed water skiing, downhill skiing and kayaking with his son. Randy enjoyed spending time with his family. In addition to his parents, he sadly lost his grandparents, two aunts, and a brother-in-law.
Those who cherish Randy’s memories are his wife of 19 years, Jeanie Hollar Travis; son, Matthew Travis; brother, Scotty Travis; sister, Kelly Hefner; several nieces, nephews and extended family.
A viewing will be held on Saturday, December 30, 2023, at Alexander Funeral Service from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM. The funeral service will be held on Saturday, December 30, 2023, at 14.00 in the Alexander Funeral Chapel. Burial will be in Hiddenite Cemetery. Reverend Eric Hollar will preside.
Including his parents, he was preceded in death by his grandparents, two aunts, five uncles and two brothers-in-law.
Those who cherish Randy’s memories are his wife of 19 years, Jeanie Hollar Travis; son, Matthew Travis; brother, Scotty Travis; sister, Kelly Hefner; several nieces, nephews and extended family.
A viewing will be held on Saturday, December 30, 2023, at Alexander Funeral Service from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM. The funeral service will be held on Saturday, December 30, 2023, at 14.00 in the Alexander Funeral Chapel. Burial will be in Hiddenite Cemetery. Reverend Eric Hollar will preside.
Randy Travis’s Personal Life
Randy Travis Obituary
Travis was managed for most of his career by Elizabeth “Lib” Hatcher, a former nightclub owner. The two lived together for several years early in their careers. The couple married in secret on May 31, 1991, and purchased a home in Maui shortly after that.
Due to the secrecy surrounding their wedding and move to Maui, Travis later noted that many fans believed he was gay and had contracted HIV/AIDS. In early 1991, the tabloid National Enquirer published an article claiming that Travis was gay.
In response, Travis considered suing the publication until a lawyer convinced him otherwise. Journalist Michael Corcoran noted that their marriage was initially seen as contentious, both due to the initial secrecy and the fact that Hatcher was 18 years older than Travis. Travis and Hatcher divorced in October 2010 because they were not compatible.
Despite this, Hatcher remained his manager at the time. After a period of engagement, he married Mary Davis on March 21, 2015. They live together at Chrysalis Ranch, a ranch they own outside of Tioga, Texas.
Travis suffered a series of public intoxication incidents in the early 2010s. He was arrested in February 2012 when he was found in a parked car outside a church in Sanger, Texas, with an open bottle of wine and the smell of alcohol. On August 7, 2012, state troopers in Grayson County, Texas, responded to a call of a naked man lying in the road. Officers reported that when they arrived, they found Travis naked and smelling of alcohol.
The Texas Highway Patrol said Travis crashed his car in a construction zone, and when they tried to arrest him, Travis threatened officers with his life. Travis was subsequently arrested for driving under the influence and making terroristic threats against an officer. He posted a $21,500 bond.
That same night, shortly before he was arrested for DUI, Travis allegedly walked into a Tiger Mart supermarket naked. He asked the cashier for cigarettes, who in turn called the authorities. According to the clerk, Travis left the store when he realized he had no money to pay for the cigarettes. Travis filed a lawsuit to prevent the release of police dashcam video of the incident.
On January 31, 2013, Travis pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in the August 7 incident and received two years probation, a $2,000 fine and 180 days probation. Video of the incident aired on the Investigation Discovery program Exposed: Naked Crimes on December 26, 2023.
In July 2013, Travis started having trouble breathing while working out at his home gym. He was admitted to Dallas, Texas, for viral cardiomyopathy. During treatment, Travis suffered heart failure and a stroke. The stroke affected the left side of Travis’ brain and affected movement on the right side of his body.
Travis was put on a ventilator after the infection caused his lung to collapse and was found to have a one per cent chance of survival. The infection, subsequent stroke and three separate bouts of pneumonia led Travis to undergo three tracheotomies and two brain surgeries.
Travis also suffered from aphasia, losing the ability to speak and sing, as well as developing vision problems. These problems were alleviated by years of therapy with Davis, to whom he was then engaged. By November 2014, he recovered, was able to walk short distances without assistance and was learning to write and play the guitar again, Davis said.
Although Travis lost most of his ability to sing due to the stroke, he appeared on stage sporadically to perform in a limited capacity. In 2015, Travis made a guest appearance at the Academy of Country Music Awards, one of his first public appearances after his stroke, where Lee Brice paid tribute to him by singing “Forever and Ever, Amen.” Travis performed “Amazing Grace” at a Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony in March 2016, where Davis joined him. Still, Travis had limited speech when interviewed by The Tennessean in 2017, and he remained largely wheelchair-bound.
He appeared on stage with singer Michael Ray during a cover performance of “Forever and Ever, Amen” in June 2017, to which Travis contributed the closing “Amen”. He did the same at his 60th birthday party held at the Grand Ole Opry on May 4, 2019.
Music Career
Randy Travis Obituary
Hatcher booked a number of country singers to perform at her club to network with country music executives in Nashville, Tennessee. One of those singers, Joe Stampley, agreed to produce a session for Traywick in Nashville.
Hatcher paid $10,000 for the recording session and marketing, which was done through a small independent label based in Shreveport, Louisiana, Paula Records. The session produced the singles “She’s My Woman” and “I’ll Take Any Willing Woman”. Traywick and Hatcher distributed copies of the single to radio stations in the southern United States in 1979.
The former peaked at number 91 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. After the failure of these singles, Hatcher and Traywick continued to submit demo recordings to executives, but they initially failed to generate interest. In 1981, Traywick and Hatcher decided to move to Nashville to be closer to the centre of the country’s music industry.
But they still travelled back to Charlotte on the weekends to do business at Country City USA, which had since moved to a larger facility. They supported themselves by renting part of their Nashville home to songwriter Keith Stegall, who used it as an office. Stegall then introduced the two to songwriter and disc jockey Charlie Monk at a golf game, which led to him performing songs for Monk.
Stegall also submitted Traywick’s demos to several producers in Nashville to drum up interest in a record deal. Traywick recorded a session with producer John Ragsdale with the intention of signing him to Curb Records, but the label ultimately decided not to sign him.
In 1982, Hatcher began managing a nightclub called the Nashville Palace on the recommendation of singer Ray Pillow. She initially put Traywick in charge of washing dishes but soon had him perform there as well. Hatcher also rented out his office space to other industry leaders, including employees of Radio & Records magazine. Meanwhile, Randy Ray continued to work on his songwriting under Stegall’s guidance.
Towards the end of the year, Hatcher and Nashville Palace owner John Hobbs financed an independent album titled “Randy Ray Live at the Nashville Palace”, which consisted of ten songs he recorded at the Palace. Stegall served as producer on this project.
He placed second to Lang Scott, who later married country singer Linda Davis. Ralph Emery also invited him several times to appear on the TNN talk show “Nashville Now”, which he hosted.
Despite the attention from Nashville Now, he still failed to land a record deal in 1984. Martha Sharp, then working in artist and repertoire (A&R) at Warner Bros. in Nashville. Records attended a seminar in late 1984 where executives suggested signing attractive young artists with a “traditional” sound.
Through mutual contacts with Monk and Stegall, she became aware of Randy Ray, who was working on other songs with the latter at the time. Sharp arranged for him to be signed to a contract that initially contained four songs.
Full Circle
Travis’ last album for Warner was 1996’s “Full Circle” Travis told Billboard before its release that he and Lehning spent more than a year selecting songs for the album because they wanted to make sure they were consistent with the album. The contents are completely satisfactory.
The first single was “Are We in Trouble Now”, a song by Mark Knopfler. Neither this song nor its follow-up, “Would I”, reached the top 20 on the country charts, while neither “Price to Pay” nor a cover of Roger Miller’s “King of the Road” (which also appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 film Traveler) ) did ) peaked at 40.
Gordon Ely, a writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, noted the failure of the album’s lead single and wondered whether the album and Travis, in general, had a long-term future due to the influx of younger artists in recent years could be successful.
Ely deemed the album “stronger than ever”, emphasizing Lehning’s production and Travis’ voice, as well as the lyrics to “Price to Pay”. Country Standard Time writer Don Yates saw the influence of honky-tonk in some songs and praised the lyrics and vocals of “Are We in Trouble Now” but criticized “Would I” as a “gimmick” and the closing track “Ants on a Log .” “banal”.
All Music writer Thom Owens said of Full Circle: “His mid-’90s albums suffered from a tendency to be a little too samey. “Full Circle solves this problem by simultaneously reaching back to its hardcore honky-tonk roots and focusing on more contemporary material.”
In mid-1997, Travis announced that he was signing with Warner Bros. and had left due to disagreements over Full Circle’s marketing as well as concerns that the country music industry was moving toward backcountry pop influences. Travis also noted at the time that Warner executives did not give him, Lehning and Hatcher as much freedom to choose singles as they had on previous albums. Upon leaving Warner, Travis was offered contracts by both Asylum Records and the then-new DreamWorks Records.
At this point, Lehning had just become president of Asylum’s Nashville division, but Travis decided not to follow him to that label because he didn’t think Lehning’s position would last. Read More.
