Randy Travis

Randy Travis (born Randy Bruce Traywick) is a country music singer, songwriter and actor known for helping lead the neotraditional country movement in the 1980s with hits including “Forever and Ever, Amen” and “On the Other Hand.” Travis spent his childhood in Marshville, North Carolina, where he was raised in a musical family and began playing guitar as a child. Travis performed with his brother in local talent contests and dropped out of school in the ninth grade.

After spending his teen years in and out of trouble with the law, Travis focused on music and moved to Nashville with manager Mary Elizabeth “Lib” Hatcher. Following years of rejection from record labels, he signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1985 and adopted the stage name Randy Travis. His breakthrough came with the release of Storms of Life in 1986, which produced the hits “On the Other Hand,” “1982” and “Diggin’ Up Bones.” He quickly became one of country music’s biggest stars and helped bring traditional country sounds back to mainstream radio.

Travis went on to release numerous successful albums, including Always & Forever (1987), Old 8×10 (1988), Rise and Shine (2002) and Around the Bend (2008). His best-known songs include “Forever and Ever, Amen,” “I Told You So,” “Deeper Than the Holler,” “Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart” and “Three Wooden Crosses.” He began to transition to gospel music in the early 2000s, releasing albums such as Worship & Faith (2003) and Passing Through (2004). In addition to his music career, he appeared in projects including Matlock, Touched by an Angel and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007).

Throughout his career, Travis has won six Grammy Awards, as well as numerous Academy of Country Music Awards and Country Music Association Awards. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

Travis married Lib Hatcher in 1991 and the pair divorced in 2010. He married Mary Davis in 2015 after she helped care for him during his recovery from a near-fatal stroke in 2013.