Randy Travis & Wife-Manager DIVORCE
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Randy Travis and his wife-manager Elizabeth Travis have divorced. Family spokeswoman Maureen O'Connor confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday that the divorce was final.
No further details were given, but an earlier statement that the couple had "parted ways" said Elizabeth Travis would continue to be Travis' personal manager. The statement said the couple would have no further comment and asked for "respect for their privacy during this time."
Neither could be reached for comment.
A petition for dissolution of marriage was filed by Randy Travis in Albuquerque, N.M., on Thursday. They have a home in Santa Fe. The petition calls for an equal split of assets, but offers no clues about why the Travises split, other than saying a "state of incompatibility exists between the parties."
The couple has had a 34-year business and personal relationship that began when a teenage Travis won a talent contest at the Charlotte, N.C., nightclub his future wife owned in the mid-1970s with her first husband. They married in 1991.
They moved to Nashville in the early 1980s. Travis was turned down by most of the record labels in town because he was considered too country.
Under her guidance, he eventually landed a record deal and put out his first album, "Storms of Life," in 1985. Soon the singer with the smooth baritone and straight-up style revolutionized the genre, spurring the so-called neotraditionalist movement that produced some of country's biggest stars.
Travis went on to sell millions of albums and has won more than two dozen major awards, including six Grammys. His latest came earlier this year when he won best country collaboration for "I Told You So," a duet with Carrie Underwood.
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AP correspondent Tim Korte in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this report.
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CHRIS TALBOTT 10/30/10 12:35 AM ET Associated Press