WASHINGTON (RNS)—Gospel singer and songwriter Joyce “Dottie” Rambo died in a tour bus accident May 11 in Missouri.
Rambo, 74, was in a tour bus that struck an embankment near Mount Vernon, Mo., after running off the highway, the Associated Press reported.
| Joyce “Dottie” Rambo |
The Nashville, Tenn., resident published more than 2,500 songs including “We Shall Behold Him,” which was named the 1982 Gospel Music Association’s song of the year.
Others of her tunes, which have been performed by various artists, include “I Go to the Rock,” “Behold the Lamb,” “I Will Glory in the Cross” and “He Looked Beyond My Fault (and Saw my Need).” Musical luminaries such as Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, Sandi Patty and Dolly Parton recorded her songs.
“We have lost one of the truly great poets, but her voice will only be amplified by death,” fellow gospel songwriter Gloria Gaither wrote on the website she shares with musician-husband Bill Gaither. “Songs of Dottie Rambo will more insistently than ever speak to the experiences of life bringing hope, counsel, encourgement and perspective.”
Rambo, a Grammy-winning artist, wrote her first song at age 8 in her native Kentucky and started singing and traveling from church to church at age 12. Eventually, she was a staple on Christian television, including The Dottie Rambo Magazine on the Trinity Broadcasting Network in the 1980s.
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