Reba McEntire‘s music career almost ended when her mother died. Jacqueline McEntire passed in March 2020 at the age of 93, after a battle with cancer. The heartbreak was unbearable for the country veteran.
The grief was so bad, in fact, it almost made the star quit her music career.
During a recent visit to Today, McEntire recounted the grieving process she went through with her siblings, Alice, Pake and Susie.
“We were cleaning out the house, and I was going through pictures. I said, ‘I just don’t think I wanna do this anymore,'” the “I’m a Survivor” singer recalls saying to her sister, Susie.
“She said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Sing.'”
“She said, ‘Why?’ I said, ”Cause I always did it for Mama,'” McEntire reveals.
“She said, ‘Oh, you’ll get it back.’ I did.”
Susie was right, and the Oklahoma native has been able to channel her emotions into her music. Recently McEntire released “Seven Minutes in Heaven,” a touching song and video that allowed her to pay tribute to her late mother.
“When you find a song that really touches your heart and chokes you up — I gotta sing it. I gotta record it. That’s what you’re always looking for, is the song that touches your heart,” she explains. “That way, when I sing it, it’ll hopefully touch your heart, too.”
To take things a step further, the track’s music video features a special cameo resembling her mom, Jacqueline. McEntire says she sent the video to her siblings, and Susie called her about it. The two didn’t say much on the phone, but they shared plenty of tears.
“Seven Minutes in Heaven” isn’t the only musical tribute in McEntire’s catalog about her mother: In 2019, she memorialized Jacqueline with a song called “You Never Gave Up on Me,” which her mom was able to hear while she was still here.