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Widow of country music star Slim Dusty, Joy McKean dies after battle with cancer.
Joy McKean Death Cause: Joy McKean Cancer Battle
McKean’s passing was reported by EMI Records in a statement issued on Friday.
Joy lost her battle with cancer quietly last night as her family was by her side, according to the statement. She will go down in Australian music history as a trailblazer.
Many of her husband’s most well-known songs, including Lights on the Hill and The Biggest Disappointment, were written by McKean, a gifted singer and pianist.
For her song Lights on the Hill, she received the first Golden Guitar at the first Tamworth Country Music Festival, which she founded.
More than 100 albums, 45 Golden Guitar awards, and more than 8 million records have been sold as a result of Dusty and McKean’s musical collaboration.
She is survived by her two talented singer-songwriter children, Anne Kirkpatrick and David Kirkpatrick, as well as by four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
David Gordon Kirkpatrick, better known as Slim Dusty, passed away in 2003 at the age of 76.
McKean was raised on a dairy farm after being born in Singleton in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. Her parents introduced her to Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family’s music.
Many of her husband’s most well-known songs, such as The Biggest Disappointment and Lights on the Hill, were written by McKean, a multi-award-winning songwriter and performer.
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When he was younger, McKean started yodeling with his sister Heather and picked up the steel guitar, piano, and accordion.
As the McKean Sisters, Joy and Heather debuted as a duo at the age of 18, and they also had a half-hour radio show.
By the time Joy and Dusty met, The McKean Sisters had already released the hits Gymkhana Yodel and Yodel Down The Valley.
While Heather wed country music singer Reg Lindsay, they got married in 1951.
Dusty found international success with his 1957 song Pub With No Beer and was the biggest name in Australian country music until his death.
For her husband, McKean penned Kelly’s Offsider, Indian Pacific, The Angel of Goulburn Hill, and Walk A Country Mile. She also served as his manager for more than 50 years.
She was chairwoman of the Slim Dusty Foundation, which built the Slim Dusty Centre in the singer’s hometown of Kempsey, and she contributed to the establishment of the Country Music Association of Australia.
At the APRA Awards in 2021, McKean received the Ted Albert Award for Outstanding Services to Australian Music.
In 1983, the McKean Sisters were admitted into Australia’s Roll of Fame for country music artists, and in 2020, Joy received the same honor as a solo singer.
