Country music singers who have died since 1989

Don Williams

Don Williams, an award-winning country singer with love ballads like "I Believe in You," died on Friday, Sept. 8, 2017. A statement from his publicist Kirt Webster said he died after a short illness. He was 78.

Troy Gentry

The official website for Montgomery Gentry says Troy Gentry, half of the country duo, died in a New Jersey helicopter crash on Friday, Sept. 8, 2017. The Federal Aviation Administration says the helicopter crashed into a wooded area near the Flying W Airport in Medford. Gentry was 50.

Ralph Stanley

Ralph Stanley, seen on April 28, 2012, was a pioneer of the high lonesome style of American Bluegrass music. Stanley died June 23, 2016 as a result of complications from skin cancer. He was 89.

Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard died of pneumonia Wednesday, April 6, 2016, on his 79th birthday, his manager said. The celebrated country giant, whose career spanned 40 years, had postponed and canceled concert dates in the months leading up to his death, citing a previous case of pneumonia in both lungs.

Slim Whitman

This undated file photo shows country singer Slim Whitman. Whitman died on June 19, 2013 of heart failure in Florida. He was 90.

Joey Martin Feek

Joey Martin Feek, left, and husband Rory Lee Feek, of "Joey + Rory," arrive at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas in 2011. Joey died Friday, March 4, 2016, her manager said. Feek, who had been diagnosed with cancer two years ago, died at home in Indiana, Aaron Carnahan said.

Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers is shown in a Feb. 24, 1984 photo. Rogers, the singing ``King of the Cowboys'' whose straight-shooting exploits in movies and television made him a hero to generations of young fans and No. 1 at the box office, died Monday, July 6, 1998. He was 86.

Roger Miller

Country singer and songwriter Roger Miller, seen here at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles. on Jan. 26, 1987, died on Oct. 25, 1992 of cancer at the age of 56.

Hank Thompson

Singer Hank Thompson, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, died of lung cancer on Nov. 6, 2007.

Hank Snow

Country music star Hank Snow sings at a benefit concert for the Melisha Gibson Memorial Fund, named for the 4-year-old beaten to death here two months ago in Cleveland, Tennessee, Dec. 10, 1976. Snow told the audience he would spearhead a drive to help abused children because he still carries the scars of his own beatings. Snow died on Dec. 20, 1999, at the age of 85.

Freddy Fender

Freddy Fender performs at the Hildago BorderFest, in Hildago, Texas, on March 5, 2005. Fender, the "Bebop Kid" of the Texas-Mexico border who later turned his twangy tenor into the smash country ballad "Before the Next Teardrop Falls," died of lung cancer on Oct. 14, 2006 at the age of 69.

Charlie Rich

Charlie Rich, the soulful, silver-haired balladeer who topped the country music charts with the songs ``Behind Closed Doors'' and ``The Most Beautiful Girl'' in 1973, died on July 25, 1995 at the age of 62. His heyday was the mid-1970s, when he was voted the Country Music Association's entertainer of the year in 1974 and male vocalist of the year in 1973.

Tennessee Ernie Ford

Singer Tennessee Ernie Ford entertaining at the White House June, 1975. Ford died of liver failure on Oct. 17, 1991 at the age of 72.

Sonny James

In this May 6, 2007 file photo, inductee Sonny James is presented his medallion at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn. James, who recorded romantic ballads like "Young Love" and turned pop songs into country hits, died Monday, Feb. 22, 2016, in a Nashville hospice facility at age 87, according to a family friend, Gary Robble, who was also the lead singer of James' backing band, the Southern Gentlemen.

This undated image shows Craig Strickland, lead singer of Arkansas-based country-rock band Backroad Anthem. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Strickland, 29, of Springdale, Ark., died at Kaw Lake, near the Kansas-Oklahoma state line after he and Chase Moreland disappeared on a hunting trip. Strickland's body was recovered on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. The body of Morland, 22, of Van Buren, Ark., was recovered Dec. 28.

Jimmy Dean smiles while he gets ready for a taping of his show "The Jimmy Dean Show" in the New York studio on April 2, 1964. The country music legend known for his smash hit about a workingman hero, "Big Bad John," and an entrepreneur known for his sausage brand, died, June 13, 2010. He was 81.

Lynn Anderson arrives at the 47th annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn. in this November 6, 2013 file photo. Anderson, whose strong, husky voice carried her to the top of the country and pop charts with "(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden," died Thursday, July 30, 2015 at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. She was 67.

Grand Ole Opry star Little Jimmy Dickens died Friday, Jan. 2, 2015, at a Nashville-area hospital of cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke on Christmas Day. He was 95.

Tammy Wynette appears with duet partner and former husband George Jones in Nashville, Tenn. in 1995. Wynette died at her home on April 6, 1998, at the age of 55. Jones died on April 26, 2013, at the age of 81.

Johnny Cash sings with his wife, June Carter Cash, at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan on Feb. 18, 1985. The singers -- whose oft-tortured romance was portrayed on the silver screen in "Walk the Line" -- both died in 2003, with Johnny Cash dying just months after his wife was laid to rest.

Waylon Jennings, who defined the outlaw movement in country music and whose voice served as the Balladeer on "The Dukes of Hazzard," died Feb. 13, 2002, at 64.

Dottie West, with Kenny Rogers at the CMA Awards in 1978, had a successful solo career and teamed with Rogers to win Best Duo of the Year at the CMAs in '78 and '79. She died on Sept. 4, 1991, at age 58, from injuries suffered days earlier in a car accident.

Hollywood actor and "Singing Cowboy" Gene Autry, who belted out tunes like "Back in the Saddle Again" and once owned the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, died on Oct. 2, 1998, at the age of 91.

Buck Owens, left, with "Hee Haw" co-host Roy Clark, is one of the artists credited with starting "Bakersfield Sound," a more honky-tonk-driven presentation that sparred with Nashville's smoother "Countrypolitan" sound for country music supremacy in the 1960s. Owens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996 and died on March 25, 2006, at the age of 76.

Porter Wagoner, third from left, stands with other inductees of the Museum of Broadcast Communication Hall of Fame on Nov. 15, 1992. Wagoner, a Grand Ole Opry fixture and 2002 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, died Oct. 28, 2007, at the age of 80.

Dan Seals had hits as part of the duo England Dan and John Ford Coley, and he won CMA Duo of the Year with Marie Osmond in 1986 for "Meet Me in Montana." He also found success as a solo singer before dying on March 25, 2009, at age 61 from cancer complications.

Chris LeDoux, right, performs with Garth Brooks, left, and Charlie Daniels, center at the 32nd Academy of Country Music Awards on April 23, 1997, in Universal City, Calif. He was a world champion bareback rodeo rider in 1976 before embarking on a singer career cut short when he died of cancer on March 9, 2005, at age 56.

This 1976 photo shows Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Kitty Wells during the CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn. Wells, the first female superstar of country music, died at the age of 92 on July 16, 2012. Her recording of "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" in 1952 was the first No. 1 hit by a woman soloist on the country music charts. Other hits included "Making Believe" and a version of "I Can't Stop Loving You."

Cajun music star Jimmy C. Newman is seen in this May 15, 1989, photograph. Newman died June 21, 2014, after a brief illness. He was 86.

Rockabilly legend Carl Perkins, foreground, with, from left, Lee Rocker, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Earl Slick, Ringo Starr, Dave Edmunds and Slim Jim Phantom. Perkins, whose song "Blue Suede Shoes" and lightning-quick guitar-playing influenced a slew of performers, died Jan. 19, 1998, at age 65 after a series of strokes.

Conway Twitty, with Loretta Lynn holding their trophies at the American Music Awards in 1977, held the record for the most No. 1 singles in country music history before being passed by George Strait. Twitty, who teamed with Lynn for several of those hits, died on June 5, 1993, at age 59.

Eddy Arnold, whose mellow baritone on songs like "Make the World Go Away" made him one of the most successful country singers in history, died May 8, 2008, at the age of 89.

Hank Locklin, who had hits with "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" and "Please Help Me I'm Falling" and was a member of the Grand Ole Opry, died March 8, 2009, at the age of 91.

In this 2007 photo, Ray Price performs at the Aladdin Theater for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. Price, one of country music's most popular and influential singers and bandleaders, had more than 100 hits and was one of the last living connections to Hank Williams. He died Dec. 16, 2013, at the age of 87.

Longtime Grand Ole Opry singer Jack Greene, best known for his hit song "There Goes My Everything," died on March 14, 2013, at the age of 83 after Alzheimer’s disease complications .

Skeeter Davis hit the top of the pop charts with "The End of the World'' in 1963 and sang on the Grand Ole Opry radio show for more than 40 years. She died on Sept. 19, 2004, of cancer at the age of 72.

In this March 1980 photo, Jerry Reed, center, gets a surprise cake from his "Smokey and the Bandit" co-star Burt Reynolds, left, for Reed's 25 years in show business. Reed, who played "Snowman" to Reynolds' "Bandit" and wrote and sang the movie's iconic "East Bound and Down" theme, died on Sept. 1, 2008, from emphysema complications at age 71.

Keith Whitley had three No. 1 singles from his 1988 album "Don't Close Your Eyes," but died on May 9, 1989, from alcohol poisoning at the age of 34.

Singer Eddie Rabbitt, who topped the country charts with bouncy hits such as "I Love A Rainy Night," died May 7, 1998, of lung cancer at the age of 56.

Country music singer Faron Young, shown in a 1975 photo, was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame during the 34th annual awards ceremony on Oct. 4, 2000, at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn. Young died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Dec. 10, 1996.

Mel McDaniel, whose hits included "Baby's Got Her Blues Jeans On" and "Louisiana Saturday Night," died of lung cancer on March 31, 2011 at the age of 68.

Mindy McCready, who hit the top of the country charts before personal problems sidetracked her career, died Feb. 17, 2013, at the age of 37 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.