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Obituaries
Mindy McCready 1975-2013
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 18 February 2013
US country singer Mindy McCready has died, seemingly from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound”. The troubled singer had reportedly attempted to take her own life twice before, and battled addictions to both alcohol and prescription drugs.
Arriving in Nashville in her late teens, in the early 1990s, McCready scored a recording contract with BNA Records, who released her first three albums. 1996’s ‘Ten Thousand Angels’ sold over two million copies, and brought McCready to wider attention, particularly with the hit single ‘Guys Do It All The Time’. Three other tracks from the debut album also scored places in the US country charts, with follow up long player ‘If I Don’t Stay The Night’ – while not as big a seller as the debut – also shifting good units, and spawning three more singles.
Third album ‘I’m Not So Tough’, her last for BNA, was not so successful, and despite subsequent releases and attempts to score another hit, McCready became better known for her troubled personal life. A custody battle with her mother over one of her sons led to the singer fleeing with the child in 2004, and later, in 2010, McCready was briefly hospitalised after police responded to an overdose call. Drink and drugs were an ongoing problem for the country star, though when appearing on US TV’s ‘Celebrity Rehab With Dr Drew’ nearly three years ago she declared herself clean from drugs.
But earlier this month McCready entered court-ordered rehab at the request of her father, her addictions having seemingly taken a turn for the worse following the death last month of her longtime boyfriend, and the father of her younger son, David Wilson. His death is currently being investigated, but is also believed to be the result of suicide. Following his passing, McCready told NBC’s Dateline that she had “never gone through anything this painful”.
Arkansas police confirmed McCready’s death this weekend, leading to an outpouring of tributes from fans and the country music community online. She is survived be her two sons, Zander and Zayne.
