What happened to Randy Travis? That has been the question of many of his fans after his massive stroke in 2013.
Randy Travis is a legend and an icon in country music. He led the genre to a new chapter, achieving a new level of success with his arrival in the mid-1980s. With his 1986 album Storms of Life, he became the first country artist to go platinum with his debut, the first debuting country artist to go multi-platinum, and the de facto leader of traditional-minded country musicians. Not only that, but he also attracted fans beyond the country’s boundaries and opened doors to roles in movies and TV. And while he faded into the ‘90s, he managed to make a comeback after turning to gospel music.
He collected 23 number-one career hits and earned himself an impressively long list of honors, including eleven ACMs, ten AMAs, eight Dove awards, seven Grammys, seven Music City News, five CMAs, and two People’s Choice. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1986, and he got his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.
And then, in 2013, his career took an abrupt stop.
Randy Travis’s Health Crisis in 2013
Travis had been on the road on the last days of June, performing in Detroit and Chicago. He had a packed schedule ahead of him filled with tour dates, with a show scheduled in Deadwood, South Dakota, that coming Wednesday. He even had an acting role set in an upcoming TV pilot. On the fourth of July, he spent three to four hours of his time working out in his gym as usual. The next day, he sat all day for a business meeting. He was all good.
But the day after that, his health took a 180-degree turn.
He found himself having trouble breathing, so he walked into a nearby emergency room, where he was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. A day later, his breathing got worse. His then-fiancee, Mary Davis, took him back to the hospital. At this point, his lungs were already filled with fluid.
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He was transferred to a larger hospital, the Baylor Medical Center in McKinney, Texas, where he was initially hospitalized due to “presumptive cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure.” During the treatment, he flatlined, and it took doctors three-and-a-half minutes to revive him.
In a statement released by his publicist at the time, Kirt Webster, an Impella peripheral left ventricular assist device was implanted in the singer’s heart for stabilization prior to his transfer to The Heart Hospital at Baylor Plano in Texas, where he was set to receive a higher level of specialized care.
Upon his transfer, he was officially diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, caused by a virus that infected his heart, which his family thought he could have likely picked up on a movie set – an old chemical, feed, and seed store – in Louisiana. However, it was later detailed that the viral illness became a chronic condition as it was noted that Travis had a family history of cardiomyopathy.
Two days later, his doctors informed fans that the singer’s condition had stabilized, and he showed signs of improvement. But later that night, his condition worsened. He was rushed into surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain. Doctors had to put him into an induced coma and on life support to help protect his brain. Forty-eight hours later, he came out of it, and that was when doctors realized that he had suffered a massive stroke due to complications of his congestive heart failure.
At that point, Travis needed lifesaving surgery, but he only had a 1 percent chance of surviving. For the past few days, Mary felt like she was in a fog because she didn’t have time to process her feelings. She had to answer questions and make decisions, all while she was scared to death. But this was probably the most difficult part because she had to decide whether she should take him off life support.
In a later interview on TODAY, Mary shared that when she asked him what he wanted. And in his semi-coma state, he squeezed her hand, and she knew he had not given up. So, she went back to the doctors and said, “We’re fighting this.”
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Randy Travis’s Remarkable Recovery
Is Randy Travis still alive? Yes.
Travis defied the odds and survived, but what came after was another tough challenge. The infection, the stroke that impacted the right side of his body, and three separate bouts of pneumonia led to two brain surgeries and three tracheostomies. He also endured 38 IVs, seven intubations, and a whole string of infections, including staph. Doctors told Mary he was going to die, but Travis fought with all his might every single time.
Then, for the next two and a half years, he spent four hours a day in a physical therapy facility to learn to walk again. He also developed aphasia, a disorder caused by brain trauma and affected communication. It was a rough road, and there were points when he pretty much shut down, but Mary never left his side and pushed him little by little. And slowly, he showed improvement.
In 2016, three years after experiencing a debilitating stroke, Travis gave a rare performance of “Amazing Grace” as he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
As Mary said, on behalf of her husband, “Today is the greatest day of Randy’s celebrated music career. Randy wants to thank you for listening and loving him. Randy stared death in the face, but death blinked.”
Randy Travis’s Memoir
In 2014, Travis released his memoir, “Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life,” which he co-wrote with Ken Abraham.
Inside its pages was a narration of Travis’ career triumphs after the release of his debut album Storms of Life in 1986 – the millions of albums sold, hits after hits after hits, and awards. It also detailed the darker side of his life: his personal struggles with alcohol that was displayed in public in his 2012 arrest for driving while intoxicated, where he was found naked by police following a car crash by the side of the road, and in the last hundred pages, the dire financial trouble they were in.
Travis was a big star in the genre, and his success ensured a very prosperous life. But he and his wife were shocked to know that that wasn’t the case, and so they asked: Where did the money go?
First, they discovered that Travis didn’t actually have a disability insurance policy, which the singer believed he had by Lloyd’s of London. Second, they learned that he had not been getting his royalty checks from his longtime record label, Warner Brothers because he had not recouped the advances against the royalties. Third, the money that he thought he had invested was no longer accessible or nonexistent.
Ultimately, he decided not to cast legal blame on anyone else despite the terrible financial oversight. He also owned up to his shortcomings of allowing decisions to be made on his behalf without reading what he was signing.
Randy Travis’s Life Today and New Song Release
While Travis still has the scars of his battle then – as he still has trouble speaking due to aphasia, his mobility is still limited, and he is still using a wheelchair – his zest for life and music haven’t stopped.
He enjoys daily life with his wife at their ranch near Lake Ray Roberts in Cooke County. Recently, he also released new music. His new song, “Where That Came From,” was generated by artificial intelligence (AI). It’s still his voice, but it was made out of his past audio tracks.
His record label, Warner, came up with the idea, and Travis gave them his blessing. In a Facebook post, he expressed how happy he was to be back, writing, “Eleven years ago, I never thought I would be able to have a hand in music production of any kind, but by God’s grace and the support of family, friends, fellow artists, and fans, I’m able to create the music I so dearly love.”
Despite what happened to Randy Travis, he didn’t give up. And now he’s back doing what he loved the most in his life.
