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American country singer (1954–1989)

Jackie Keith Whitley (July 1, 1954 – May 9, 1989) was an American country music singer and songwriter. During his career, he released only two albums but charted 12 singles on the Billboard country charts, and 7 more after his death. Born in Ashland, Kentucky, Whitley grew up in nearby Sandy Hook, Kentucky. He began his career there in 1970, performing in Ralph Stanley's band. Establishing himself as a lead singer in bluegrass music, Whitley moved to Nashville in 1983 and began his recording career there. His first Top 20 Country Hit single, "Miami, My Amy", was released in 1986. In 1988, his first three singles from his studio album Don't Close Your Eyes, the title song, "When You Say Nothing at All" and "I'm No Stranger to the Rain" were number one hits. Years of alcoholism severely compromised his health and he died of alcohol intoxication in 1989 at his Goodlettsville home at the age of 34. His later singles, "I Wonder Do You Think of Me", "It Ain't Nothin'", and "I'm Over You", were released after his death. In 2022, Whitley was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Whitley was born to Faye Ferguson (editor of The Elliott County News) and Elmer Whitley (an electrician) in Ashland, Kentucky, but was raised 46 miles away in Sandy Hook, and attended Sandy Hook High School. He had two brothers, Randy and Dwight, and a sister, Mary. The Whitley family is of English and Scots Irish descent and has lived in the Elliott County area since the 1840s. While Whitley was a teenager in Sandy Hook, he and his friends would pass the time drinking bootleg bourbon and racing their cars down mountain roads at dangerous speeds. Whitley was once in a car whose driver attempted to round a curve at The car wrecked, killing his friend and almost breaking Whitley's neck. In another incident, he drove his car off a 120 feet (37 m) cliff into a frozen river, escaping with only a broken collar bone. Whitley's older brother Randy was killed in an October 1983 motorcycle accident. Whitley and Skaggs, both sixteen years old, were discovered in Ft. Gay, West Virginia, by Ralph Stanley, who was 45 minutes late for a gig due to a flat tire. Stanley opened the door of the club and heard what he thought was the Stanley Brothers playing on a jukebox. However, it was Whitley and Skaggs, who "sounded just like me and Carter in the early days". The two soon joined Stanley's band. Whitley became lead singer for Stanley in 1974. Whitley also played with J. D. Crowe & the New South in the mid 1970s.

On May 9, 1989, Whitley had a brief phone call with his mother and was later visited by his brother in law, Lane Palmer. The two had coffee and were planning a day of golf and lunch, after which Whitley planned to start writing songs for him and Lorrie Morgan to record when she returned from her concert tour. Palmer left at approximately 8:30 a. m., asking Whitley to be ready to leave within an hour. Upon returning, Palmer found Whitley unresponsive on his bed and called an ambulance. Whitley was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was 34. The official cause of death was acute ethanolism (alcohol poisoning). He was born in 1954 per his birth certificate and passport, but RCA and his grave marker erroneously recorded his birth year as 1955. The day after his death, Music Row was lined with black ribbons in memory of Whitley. He is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery outside Nashville. His gravestone reads, "Forever yours faithfully" (part one) and "His being was my reason" (part two).

At the time of his death, Whitley had just finished work on his third and final studio album, I Wonder Do You Think of Me. The album was released three months after his death, on August 1, 1989. The album produced two more No. 1 hits, with the title track and "It Ain't Nothin'." "I'm Over You" also was in the Top 5 in early 1990, reaching No. 3. Two new songs were added to "Greatest Hits": The first, "Tell Lorrie I Love Her" was written and recorded at home by Whitley for Morgan, originally intended as a work tape for Whitley's friend Curtis 'Mr. Harmony' Young to sing at Whitley's wedding. The second was "'Til a Tear Becomes a Rose", a 1987 demo taken from Tree that originally featured harmony vocals by childhood friend Ricky Skaggs. Lorrie Morgan, with creative control and license to Whitley's namesake, recorded her voice alongside Whitley's, and released it as a single, which rose to No. 13 and won them 1990's CMA award for Best Vocal Collaboration as well as a Grammy nomination for Best Country Vocal Collaboration. RCA also released a compilation of performance clips (from his days in the Ralph Stanley Fronted Clinch Mountain Boys), interviews, and some previously unreleased material under the title "Kentucky Bluebird". The album produced hits for Whitley as well, including a duet with Earl Thomas Conley, named "Brotherly Love," which peaked at No. 2 in late 1991 and gave Whitley his second consecutive posthumous Grammy nomination for Best Country Vocal Collaboration. In 1994, Whitley's widow, Lorrie Morgan, organized several of Whitley's friends in bluegrass and some of the big names in country at the time to record a tribute album to Whitley. The album, Keith Whitley: A Tribute Album, was released in September 1994 via BNA. It included covers of Whitley's songs from artists such as Alan Jackson, Diamond Rio, and Ricky Skaggs. The album also included four previously unreleased tracks recorded by Whitley in 1987, one of which had Morgan dubbed in as a duet partner. The album also included two original songs: "Little Boy Lost", co written and sung by Daron Norwood, and "A Voice Still Rings True", a multi artist song. Alison Krauss's rendition of "When You Say Nothing at All" was released as a single from the album, reaching number 3 on the country charts in 1995. In 1995, the album Wherever You Are Tonight was released, produced by Lorrie Morgan, featuring restored demos of 1986–1988, with crisper 1990s recording techniques and a full orchestra. The album and single of the same name both did very well on the Billboard and R&R charts and "Super Hits" and "The Essential Keith Whitley" followed in 1996. "The Essential" contained the remastered and long since unavailable LP and Whitley's debut, the 6 Track "A Hard Act to Follow", and a scrapped song from 1986's "LA to Miami", "I Wonder Where You Are Tonight".

Several film projects depicting Whitley's life were slated, but none have come to fruition. One idea was a film version of the George Vescey Lorrie Morgan penned Forever Yours, Faithfully. While Morgan's book was a benchmark in piecing together Whitley's final moments, perhaps the most research went into a project titled Kentucky Bluebird, which was to star writer/actor/director David Keith. This project was in development hell for several years, and was halted in late 2006 after difficulties with casting and funding. Another film project, started in 2004 by songwriter Jeff Swope, was a biopic chronicling Whitley's life and passing. The last information about the project came in 2010, when he announced that pre production was set to begin, pending investors. Despite his brief moment in the spotlight, Whitley's legacy remains. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2022; Whitley retains a persistent influence on country artists, including Tim McGraw, Ronnie Dunn, and Dierks Bentley. Newer artists like Morgan Wallen are among his progenitors; a song named after Whitley features on Wallen's 2023 double album, One Thing at a Time, which won the approval of Whitley's widow and son. Whitley is the only person to be posthumously recognized as a former member of the Grand Ole Opry, without ever being an active member. Management had scheduled Whitley for an appearance in late May 1989, where he was to be invited to join, but his death on May 9 interrupted those plans. As the Opry has a policy only inducting living artists as members, Whitley's induction was scrapped. During a Keith Whitley tribute show at the Opry on October 14, 2023, Garth Brooks and Lorrie Morgan announced that Whitley's name would be engraved on a plaque and included in the Opry's Member Gallery backstage, alongside every act who has held Opry membership at some point in the show's history, dating to 1925.