The magazine said Shepard entered hospice care last week after a long illness.Representatives for Shepard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither the Tennessean nor Billboard listed a cause of death or said where she died.Shepard, who had a No. She was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville’s famous country music weekly program, in 1955, at 22, the Tennessean said. At her death, she was its longest-serving member.When she joined the Grand Ole Opry, the only other female members were Kitty Wells and Minnie Pearl, the newspaper said. In 1960, she married singer Hawkshaw Hawkins.

Source: The Nation Bangkok September 26, 2016 01:07 UTC