Deborah McCrary, a member of the acclaimed Nashville gospel quartet The McCrary Sisters, died Wednesday (June 1) at the age of 67.
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"It is with deep sorrow that we share the news of the passing of our beloved sister Deborah," sisters and bandmates Ann, Regina and Alfreda shared in a press statement.
The group has performed with several artists throughout their career, including Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Margo Price and more. The quartet also performed each year as part of the house band at the Americana Music Honors & Awards ceremony.
Born June 17, 1954, McCrary sang in the multi Grammy-nominated BCM Mass Choir in her teens and went on to perform with Elvis Presley and at Madison Square Garden with Ray Stevens. She also performed with Isaac Hayes on Dinah Shore's TV show.
She spent much of her life working as a nurse before focusing on performing with her sisters.
"It felt like everybody was staring at me, and I swore I'd never get back up there again," McCrary told The Tennessean about her first performance with The McCrary Sisters. "But it was so much fun to be with my sisters, and after that it didn't take much (convincing) at all."
The McCrary Sisters are the daughters of Rev. Samuel McCrary, a founding member of the gospel group The Fairfield Four. The sisters released their debut album Our Journey in 2010 and followed up with 2013's All the Way and 2015's Let's Go. They also released a live album, Live, in 2017 and a Christmas album, A Very McCrary Christmas, in 2019.
In recent years, the talented group has performed "My Church" with Maren Morris at the 2016 CMT Music Awards and recorded "Choctaw County Affair" with Carrie Underwood and "All of the Women" with Allison Russell.
