Reba McEntire is open about her belief in an afterlife. While remembering Toby Keith after his February passing, the “Fancy” singer expressed her hopes of a future celestial reunion with her friend. The Voice coach again invoked her faith recently as she reflected on one of her career’s greatest tragedies.
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“Rest In Peace, My Friends:” Reba McEntire Remembers Her Bandmates
McEntire took to social media Saturday (March 16) to mark the 33rd anniversary of the plane crash that killed her tour manager and seven of her bandmates.
The country legend shared a graphic naming each person she lost that day. “33 years today since Heaven gained some great angels,” she wrote on X/Twitter. “Rest in peace, my friends.”
McEntire seldom lets March 16 pass without publicly paying tribute to her friends. In 2016, she shared a photo of herself visiting the crash site to mark the tragedy’s 25th anniversary.
“I feel in my heart that they know we still miss them so much,” McEntire wrote in a Facebook post.
What Happened March 16, 1991?
The Queen of Country recalled that fateful day in her 1994 autobiography, Reba: My Story. It was March 1991, and McEntire’s musical career was flourishing. Her signature hit “Fancy” was winding its way up the charts, and the singer was even scheduled to perform at the Academy Awards on March 25.
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Following a show in San Diego, McEntire’s band boarded a jet to take them to the next gig in Indiana. McEntire stayed overnight in San Diego, planning to join them the next day.
At 2 a.m., she was jolted awake by a phone call bringing unbelievable news.
“In my mind, any minute now, we’re gonna get a call — they’re all right,” Reba, now 68, said during a 2012 interview with Oprah Winfrey. “Well, that call never came.”
Reba and the Aftermath
Reba leaned heavily on the two constants in her life: faith and music. She initially canceled all shows for the foreseeable future before ultimately deciding to keep her appointment with the Oscars.
The Reba star channeled her grief into her 17th studio album, For My Broken Heart. The record spent 20 consecutive weeks in the Billboard Hot 200’s Top 10. It was also the first album recorded by a female country artist to be certified double-platinum by the RIAA.
Since then, Reba has snagged two more GRAMMY awards, starred in her own sitcom, and become a beloved vocal coach on The Voice. But she has never forgotten the ones she lost that day.
“That’s one of the questions I’ll ask God when I get up there,” Reba said in 2012. “Why’d you take them so quick?”
Featured image by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
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