Country stars Trace Adkins, Little Big Town, and Charlie Daniels paid a special tribute to tragic singer Troy Gentry on Thursday (14Sep17) by performing at his memorial in Tennessee.
The Montgomery Gentry star was killed on Friday (08Sep17) after the helicopter he was a passenger in suffered engine failure and crashed before a show in New Jersey.
Friends and family members gathered at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on Thursday to mark Gentry's passing at the public service, where mourners included his bandmate Eddie Montgomery, Keith Urban, Travis Tritt, Randy Travis, Ricky Skaggs, and Randy Owen, among other musicians.
Little Big Town opened the ceremony with a spiritual version of the U.S. national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, while Adkins took the stage to perform a rendition of Poor Wayfaring Stranger and Daniels delivered the Christian hymn How Great Thou Art as they paid their respects to the 50-year-old.
Gentry's widow Angie and their daughters Kaylee and Taylor were also in attendance at the emotional memorial, during which the star's pal, former Costa Rican soccer player Rafael Calderon addressed the audience by sharing some of his favourite memories of the star.
"With the outpouring of support for his family, one thing became clear to me: Troy changed many lives," the athlete said as he reflected on the singer's shocking death.
"Most people just melted with his smile, that would light up every room that he walked in to...," Calderon continued. "He genuinely made you feel like you were the only person in the room... With a great big hug, he passed a little of himself to you... Troy, we will never forget you."
The retired sportsman also used his speech to urge Gentry's girls to "work hard, stay humble, be thankful, give back, love deep," just as their father would have wanted them to, while he told Angie, "You were his world, and he was yours. You were his everything. To everyone who knows you, you and Troy were the definition of unconditional, genuine and pure love. He always told me that you saved him."
Troy wed Angie in 1999.
