Reba McEntire Opens Up About Nearly Losing Her Music After Her Mother’s Passing — “I Just Didn’t Want to Sing”
For country legend Reba McEntire, music has always been more than a career — it’s been her lifeline. But in a recent, heartfelt reflection, the superstar revealed that after the passing of her beloved mother, Jacqueline McEntire, she nearly lost her desire to sing altogether.
Reba’s mother, who died in March 2020 at age 93, was not only her greatest supporter but also the first person to recognize her extraordinary gift. “Mama was the one who pushed me to sing,” Reba shared softly. “She believed in me long before I believed in myself.” When she passed, Reba said, it felt as though the foundation of her life had shifted. “I just didn’t want to sing,” she admitted. “The joy was gone.”
It was a quiet but powerful confession from a woman whose voice has carried through generations. For someone as driven and passionate as Reba, that loss of purpose was unfamiliar — and deeply painful. “Music had always been the way I processed life,” she said. “But after Mama died, I didn’t want to write, record, or even hum along to the radio. Everything reminded me of her.”
Jacqueline wasn’t just Reba’s mother — she was her teacher, her guiding star, and in many ways, her first audience. A former schoolteacher with dreams of singing professionally herself, she encouraged Reba to chase the dream she never could. “Mama wanted to be a singer,” Reba once said, “but she stayed home and raised us. I got to live her dream — and that’s something I’ll always carry with me.”
When she died, Reba said, it felt like losing the woman who gave her both life and purpose. “I felt empty,” she recalled. “Like I’d lost not just my mama, but the reason I started singing in the first place.”
For a while, Reba stayed quiet. She cancelled appearances, spent time on her ranch, and leaned on her partner Rex Linn and her faith to guide her through. “Rex was incredible,” she said. “He just let me be. Some days I’d want to talk, and some days I couldn’t find the words. But he understood that grief has its own rhythm.”
It was during one of those quiet moments at home that something unexpected happened — Reba found herself humming again. “It started small,” she said. “Just a little melody that popped into my head one morning. And I thought, ‘Well, maybe Mama’s still nudging me.’” That simple act — singing without plan or pressure — reminded her that music was not something she had to force; it was something she was born to do.
Slowly, the songs came back. Reba began working on new material, drawing strength from her memories of her mother and their shared love of country storytelling. “I realized that the best way to honor Mama wasn’t by being sad,” she said, “but by doing what she taught me to do — keep singing.”
Now, years later, Reba speaks of her loss not with despair, but with gratitude. “Mama’s still with me,” she said with a smile. “Every time I walk on stage, she’s right there — in my heart, in my voice, and in every song I sing.”
Through tears, faith, and rediscovery, Reba McEntire found her way back to music — not in spite of her mother’s passing, but because of the love that never left. “Grief doesn’t end,” she reflected, “but neither does love. And love — that’s where the music lives.”