Joey Feek, Of Country Duo Joey + Rory, Dead From Cervical Cancer At Age 40

The country music star decided to forgo treatment after learning her cancer was terminal.
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Country singer Joey Feek, of the award-winning duo Joey + Rory, died from cervical cancer on Friday, her husband and musical partner announced. She was 40.

“At 2:30 this afternoon, as we were gathered around her, holding hands and praying ... my precious bride breathed her last,” Rory Feek wrote on his blog, where he had been updating fans on his wife’s condition.

“My wife's greatest dream came true today. She is in Heaven.”

In a recent post, Rory Feek wrote that his wife’s body was “shutting down.”

Feek was diagnosed in 2014, shortly after the birth of her daughter, Indiana. The following year, the couple announced that the cancer was terminal, and Joey would forgo treatment. She had been receiving end-of-life hospice care at her home in Indiana, where she died.

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Originally from Alexandria, Indiana, Joey Martin grew up in a family of musicians. She was first signed to Sony in 2000, after moving to Nashville in 1998. She married Rory Feek in 2002. The two made their debut as Joey + Rory on the CMT series "Can You Duet" in 2008. They went on to produce numerous hits, including “Cheater, Cheater,” the Grammy-nominated “If I Needed You,” and “When I’m Gone.”

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Joey + Rory were named the Top New Vocal Duo of the Year at the 2010 Academy of Country Music Awards, and received several additional nominations from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. Their first Grammy nomination came in 2016, for "If I Needed You" in the category of Best Country Duo/Group Performance.

Stars mourned Feek's death on Friday night.

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