Black Opry Singer Larysa Jaye Killed in Car Crash

Genre-shattering Black Opry member and Lower Broadway mainstay Larysa Jaye died in a car accident on December 8.

She recently celebrated her 40th birthday.

Her publicist confirmed her death to The Tennessean.

Jaye has been described as Tina Turner with an acoustic guitar. Carrie Underwood meets Mary J. Blige – acoustic soul. Jaye’s website states that she was the only Black woman to have a residency on Nashville’s famed Lower Broadway, where she frequently played Justin Timberlake’s Twelve Thirty Club. She performed at the Nashville Airport for seven years, an experience she wrote on Instagram made her the artist she is.

However, her background growing up in various towns and schools also contributed to her genre fluidity.

Her website said Jaye came from “a hood area” of Kansas City. Then, she moved to a semi-rural area of Tennessee and back to suburban Missouri. She spent her last year of high school at Hillwood High School in Nashville.

“I went from an all-Black school to being the only Black kid in the eighth grade to a college-style high school with a $6 million fine arts building,” she said, explaining her family had a piano and that she would get up as early as 2 a.m. to practice worship music for church.

Larysa Jaye was a Mom of Four

She started writing songs at 16 years old. She described her family’s faith as strict and said they sheltered her. Jaye tried out for Commercial Performance at Belmont University but wasn’t selected. She had her first son at 21 years old and twins at 25. However, as a single mother, she prevailed. Jaye worked office jobs until an open mic night reignited her desire for a music career. Her daughter was born in 2018, and the singer endured a nasty divorce in 2019. But, she learned she could make as much money in two days singing at the Nashville airport as she earned working 40 hours a week as a secretary.

“I had been in and out of the music world, putting out music that, at times, was rushed, but I’m still proud of it,” Jaye said on her website. “But with this new song, there’s a real difference. Up until now, I’ve been a performing artist. This year, I’m becoming an official recording artist.”

The song of which she was so proud: “The Thoughts That Happen (The
Mama Song).”

According to her website, Jaye performed with top artists, collected multiple Nashville Independent Spirit Award nominations, and was both music the character of Balthazar for the Summer Shakespeare series in Nashville and Franklin. Music Row reported Jaye was named to The National Museum of African American Music’s Emerging Artist program and given The Key to the City of Sikeston, Missouri, for her community philanthropy.

Jaye is survived by her four children, Sydney, Kadyn, Kingston and Shakira, her parents Wendell and Sharon Hamilton and three brothers, Carlos, Wendell Jr. and Nathan.

With permission from her family, Jaye’s friend and publicist David Hawkins started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for her final expenses.

(Photo by Jason Davis/Getty Images)