Randy Travis in Critical Condition in Texas Hospital - East Idaho News
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Randy Travis in Critical Condition in Texas Hospital

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GETTY 070813 RandyTravis?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1373320605992Frederick Breedon IV/WireImage(NEW YORK) — Randy Travis is in critical condition in a Texas hospital. 

The 54-year-old country and gospel singer was admitted Sunday with complications from recently acquired viral cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that causes it to become enlarged, thick or rigid.  As of Monday night, there was no update on Travis’s condition.

Travis was born Randy Bruce Traywick on May 4, 1959, in Marshville, NC.  He began performing while still a teen, and moved from Charlotte, NC to Nashville in 1982 with his soon-to-be manager, Lib Hatcher, whom he married in 1991.  They ended their marriage and business relationship in 2010.

Travis is credited with leading country music back to a more traditional sound with his 1986 debut album, Storms of Life, which went on to sell three million copies and produced his first #1 hit, “On the Other Hand.” He joined the Grand Ole Opry that same year.

Travis’s 1987 sophomore album, Always & Forever, was an even bigger hit, moving four million copies.  The lead single from that release, “Forever and Ever, Amen,” began a streak of seven consecutive #1 hit singles for Travis on the country chart through 1989.

Overall, Travis won six CMA Awards and seven ACM Awards.  He earned his sixth Grammy Award in 2010 for his duet with Carrie Underwood on a remake of his 1987 hit, “I Told You So.”  He’s also enjoyed a successful acting career, with roles in films such as 1997’s The Rainmaker with Matt Damon and guest spots on TV’s Touched by an Angel and Matlock.

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