Daryle Singletary 1971 - 2018
Fellow team roper Daryle Singletary died unexpectedly February 12 at his home in Lebanon, Tenn., according to publicist Don Murry Grubbs. He was 46 years old. The cause of death is unknown.
He was best known for hits “Too Much Fun” and “I Let Her Lie,” from his self-titled 1995 debut album, as well as “The Note” and “Amen Kind of Love.” Last summer he and singer Rhonda Vincent released the classic country duets album American Grandstand.
Born March 10, 1971, in Cairo, Ga., Daryle Bruce Singletary fell in love with country music at an early age. Every summer his family would visit Music City, and it was there he made his first record: “It was the biggest deal for me to go to Opryland to the Barbara Mandrell record-your-own-voice studio there,” he told The Tennessean in 1998. “I recorded (the Hank Williams classic) ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart...’ I think I was 12 or 13.”
He moved to Nashville to pursue a music career in 1990. At first he performed in singing contests in bars alongside future stars such as Tim McGraw, but then a recording he made, called “An Old Pair of Shoes,” caught the ear of one his musical heroes, Randy Travis. Travis’ then-wife, Elizabeth, became Singletary’s manager and helped get him signed to Giant Records in 1995. That year, he released his self-titled debut (co-produced by Travis), which included the rowdy “Too Much Fun” and the honky-tonker “I’m Living Up to Her Low Expectations.”
Though the landscape of country radio changed over the last two decades, Singletary stuck to the traditional sounds he loved. In 2015, he released “There’s Still a Little Country Left.” On its opening track, “Get Out of My Country,” he proclaimed, “If you want to do it right, do it like old George Jones. ... If you came to twang town just for the money, then pack it up, son, get out of my country.”
Last summer, he and singer Rhonda Vincent released American Grandstand. Vincent was filming a Facebook Live video in the recording studio with Dolly Parton and Mavis Staples when she heard of Singletary’s death. “He’s a dear friend,” Vincent said in the video. “I am stunned. Our prayers go out to Daryle’s wife and his children.”
Singletary is survived by his wife Holly, children Jonah, Mercer, Nora and Charlotte, parents Roger and Anita Singletary, brother Kevin Singletary, sister-in-law Melinda Singletary, in-laws Terry and Sandy Mercer, and brother and sister-in-law Tony and Kristy Rowland.