Reba McEntire reveals she nearly quit singing after her mother's death in 2020
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Reba McEntire did not have the same passion for music after she lost her mother in 2020, but in time, she rediscovered her love for it.
In a sit-down with Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager on Today on Tuesday, the country icon, 68, opened up about the grief she experienced after her mom, Jacqueline Smith, died from cancer at the age of 93 — and how she nearly quit singing as a result. While looking through old photos with her sister Susie after their mother's death, McEntire recalled, "I said, 'I just don't think I'm going to do this anymore.' [Susie] said, 'What?' I said, 'Sing.' I said, 'I always did it for Mama.' She said, 'Oh, you'll get it back.' I did."
McEntire said it was her mother who cultivated her and her siblings' — also comprised of brother Pake and sister Alice — love of music The four of them were hailed as "the singing McEntires" during junior high and high school, she shared. "She was really encouraging for all of us kids, whatever we wanted to do," The Voice judge said. "She taught us harmony. Anytime anybody needed an opinion of who's off, Mama would come in with her spatula after she was frying potatoes."
Once Smith gave her two cents, "She'd say, 'Oh, that's perfect,' and she'd go back in and keep frying potatoes," the singer added.
Mike Windle/Getty Reba McEntire and her late mother, Jacqueline Smith
McEntire's latest song "Seven Minutes in Heaven" — from her newly released Not That Fancy, a companion album to her new book of the same name — pays homage to her late mother. Written by Olivia Rudeen and Matt Wynn, the ballad features the lyrics: "If I had seven minutes in heaven / I know just what I'd do... I wouldn't spend all my seconds asking God questions / 'Cause he knows I'd be back soon / If I had seven minutes in heaven / I'd spend them all with you."
McEntire also took the stage to perform the song for the Today audience. Watch it below.
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