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MOUNT VERNON, Mo. - Joyce "Dottie" Rambo, an influential gospel singer
and songwriter, died early Sunday when her tour bus ran off the highway
and struck an embankment. She was 74.
Seven other people on the bus were injured in the wreck about two miles
east of Mount Vernon on Interstate 44, the Missouri Highway Patrol said.
They were hospitalized in Springfield with moderate to severe injuries,
according to the patrol.
It was unclear whether the crash was related to the severe storms and
tornadoes that hit the region on Saturday. Storms also swept through the
area later in the night, according to the National Weather Service.
Rambo, of Nashville, Tenn., was on her way to a Mother's Day
performance in Texas, according to her Web site.
"She was a giant in the gospel music industry," said Beckie Simmons,
Rambo's agent. "Dolly Parton recorded some of her songs. Elvis Presley
recorded one of her compostitions, "If That Isn't Love."
Parton sent condolences to "everyone involved in this terrible
tragedy."
"I know Dottie is in heaven in the arms of God right now, but our earth
angel will surely be missed," Parton said in a statement. "Dottie was a
dear friend, a fellow singer, songwriter and entertainer, and as of late
my duet singing partner."
Rambo was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame last
year and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
Rambo has had more than 2,500
published songs, including gospel classics such as "He Looked Beyond My
Fault and Saw My Need" and the 1982 Gospel Music Association Song of the
Year, "We Shall Behold Him."
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