Randy Travis is an American country music legend who has released twenty studio albums over a career spanning more than three decades. Sixteen of her fifty-plus singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs reached number one on the chart. Travis’s breakthrough came after the album’s release. storms of lifewhich sold more than four million copies.
Despite seeing a decline in chart success in the 1990s, Travis’s popularity never waned. He has sold more than 25 million records and won seven Grammy Awards and many other awards. Randy was inducted into the County Music Hall of Fame in 2016.
Travis suffered a stroke in 2013 which severely affected his ability to speak and sing.
In the summer of 2013, Randy Travis suffered a viral cardiomyopathy and was left lying down, but doctors were able to revive him. However, he remained in a coma and suffered an undetected stroke that caught the attention of doctors days later.
Travis needed to have part of his skull removed to create space for the swelling. After five and a half months, Randy left the hospital ready to begin his rehabilitation. Unfortunately, another setback was expected by Randy and his wife Mary Davis, who learned that Travis had aphasia. The condition is common among people recovering from a stroke.
A music graduate named Tracy would show up at Travis’ house every day to help him regain his singing ability. She began by teaching him Amazing Grace. It took her two months to get Travis to form the letter ‘A’, but after she passed that milestone, the other words came easily.
Some stroke victims, like Travis, can regain their ability to sing faster than regular speech, since different parts of the brain control the two activities. Randy recovered enough to sing a small section of Amazing Grace without assistance during his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016. Mary Davis said in The Big Interview with Dan Rather:
“We spent probably six hours a day going through that song, trying to understand the four verses and learning the words. I think when I put the microphone in his hand, he went back to being Travis. He was absolutely gorgeous.”
Travis continues to release music and is a popular figure on TikTok.
Larry McCormack/Tennessee
Travis is unlikely to recapture the baritone voice that endeared him to the world, but music is still very important in his life. He visits Nashville regularly and attends shows by random artists near his home in Tioga, Texas. Maria spoke with saving country music on Randy’s love of music:
“He loves music. We are going to see the people who are playing nearby, or where we are passing through. Every time we can listen to music, there is an extra leap in the heart. Of course he loved to sing and play music, and he always will. Now we love going to hear other people play music, because music is his soul. That is what he gave to the world. And now the world likes to give it back.”
In the summer of 2020, Randy released his first single since suffering a stroke. The song, fools love, was well received, gained millions of streams and dominated the airwaves. Randy made the song before he had his stroke, and according to Mary, there are more songs pending release from different points in Randy’s career.
Through TikTok, Randy found the perfect platform to engage with his fans. Randy enjoys doing duets with his fans. One of Randy’s sweetest duets came when he joined GB of GBandMe to sing Hank Williams. hey how good you look‘. Randy couldn’t hide her joy from him as he sang the words to Hank’s famous single.
Randy also posted a duet with Alexandra Kay, which earned millions of likes. Randy has 2.4 million followers on TikTok.
Randy continues his recovery, but his wife admits that sometimes Randy shuts down.
In Randy’s documentary More life, Mary shares that the doctors asked her to turn off Randy’s life support. Randy responded to the question by shedding a tear and squeezing Mary’s hand. The response indicated that he wanted to fight.
Randy committed to therapy faster than Mary thought he would. However, relearning the processes that his brain had lost was exhausting and frustrating. Mary said skills magazine which Randy closed:
“It got to a point where Randy had pretty much shut down. He got to the point where he didn’t want to go, but I made him go, and we’d get there, and he’d just sit there. He had shut down. Even the therapist said, “When he gets to that point, they need a break.” And it’s exhausting, I can only imagine being in his place and trying to start over.
The difficulty made Randy and Mary appreciate every hint of progress. Mary and Travis had never dealt with stroke and aphasia before, which made their recovery an eye-opening process. Previously, Mary assumed that people who didn’t respond to her had nothing to say.
She said skills magazine that Randy’s experience made him realize that maybe people who don’t answer can’t:
“Now that we’ve been through this, if someone talks to Randy or they try to have a conversation, and he doesn’t respond, I hear them walk away and say, ‘Well, I guess he doesn’t.’ You have nothing to tell me. And you think, ‘My God, he really has it, but he has aphasia.
In December 2021, the Grand Ole Opry celebrated Randy’s 35 years as a member of the family. Randy appeared at the celebrations and was ecstatic as musicians and fans celebrated his achievement.
2021 was a big year for Randy as he was named an Artist for Life by CMT. He also celebrated the 35th anniversary of his debut LP, storms of lifewith a remastered release featuring new music.
Randy will continue to fight to regain his health. “He’s stubborn,” said Mary in More life. “I don’t know if you know that about him.”
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn