This week marks the 32nd anniversary of a plane disaster that claimed the lives of several friends of Reba McEntire. The singer paid tribute via social media to her eight bandmates and crew members who passed away on March 16, 1991. The date of their deaths was March 16.
They were eight of the most accomplished people working in the music industry. However, the most important thing was that they were my friends,” she wrote on Instagram.
A plane that was flying from San Diego to Indiana was forced to make an emergency landing after the leading edge of one of its wings collided with a boulder on the side of Otay Mountain.
Due to the singer’s illness, McEntire, along with her husband Narvel and her stylist, remained at the hotel throughout the entire performance.
Kirk Cappello, Michael Thomas, Tony Saputo, Paula Kaye Evans, Terry Jackson, Joey Cigainero, and Chris Austin, in addition to tour manager Jim Hammon, all perished in the accident.
“Their love for music and the stage gives all of us the strength to go on,” she adds to the previous statement. One of the group’s performances is captured on video and included in this presentation.
Every year, McEntire brings up the band in conversation. She discussed the accident and the immediate aftermath of it in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2012.
“When we were notified, Narvel went and met with our pilot, and he told us what had happened,” she shared with us. “When we were notified, Narvel went and met with our pilot.”
“And Narvel came back to the hotel room where I was — it was somewhere between two and three in the morning — and he said one of the planes had crashed, and I asked, ‘Are they OK?'” He responded by saying, “I don’t think so.” I responded, ‘But you’re not sure?’ “He responded, ‘I don’t think so.'”
