One of the worst things that could have happened to a well-known country music singer was that. However, it’s rarely discussed, and we don’t know much about it. An event that drastically alters one’s life and stays with them forever is losing a child in a terrible accident.
Many performers would undoubtedly be off their game if it happened right before their career’s peak. But the way George Strait handled the tragedy and processed it was insightful, and it had a significant impact on the musician and persona we now know as “King” George.
The first child of George Strait and his wife Norma was born on October 6, 1972, and her name is Jenifer, with a single “n.”. Strait had eloped with his high school sweetheart Norma Voss to Mexico the December before, when he was only 20 years old.
He had also joined the US Army as an infantryman and been assigned to Hawaii in the Pacific. In this community, Jenifer was born.
South of San Antonio in Texas, in the teeny hamlet of Poteet, Strait was born. He moved to San Marcos to attend Southwest Texas State University, which is now known as Texas State University, after receiving his Army discharge in 1975. In addition, this is where he formed his Ace in the Hole Band and started playing in nearby venues like the Cheatham Street Warehouse and New Braunfels’ renowned Gruene Hall.
George Strait visited Nashville frequently in the late 1970s and early 1980s while looking for a record deal. He eventually signed with MCA Records and made albums there. But Strait stayed in San Marcos to raise his small family away from the glamor and bustle of Nashville’s music scene.
The song “You Look So Good in Love” and “Let’s Fall to pcs\. Together” were two of George Strait’s subsequent No. 1 hits in 1983 and 1984. His first No. 1 hit was “Fool Hearted Memories” in 1982. His debut album, “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind,” came out in 1985, the same year he was named CMA Male Singer of the Year. By 1986, George Strait had transformed himself from a Texas unknown into one of the most well-known figures in country music. His professional life couldn’t be going any better. At that point, catastrophe struck.
On June 25, 1986, Jenifer Strait was traveling through San Marcos in a Ford Mustang with a group of friends. Along with William Allen McDonald, 16, Joseph Wiley Robbins, 17, and Gregory Wilson Allen, 18, she was a 13-year-old passenger in a car. Around 11:55 p.m., Allen turned abruptly onto a side road. m. , causing the car to slide, flip, and finally land on its top in a ditch.
The driver, Gregory Wilson Allen, was unharmed and was able to leave the scene. William Allen McDonald and Joseph Wiley Robbins were treated at a nearby hospital for minor wounds before being released. Jenifer Strait, on the other hand, was injured in the collision and passed away on the spot. Seat belts weren’t being worn by any of the passengers.
After Jenifer Strait’s death, Gregory Wilson Allen was eventually charged with Class A vehicular homicide. An investigation determined that driving too fast was what caused the accident but that alcohol was not a contributing factor. Following a funeral service at the First United Methodist Church in San Marcos, Texas, Jenifer Strait was buried in Pearsall, Texas.
George Strait and his family were devastated by Jenifer Strait’s unfathomable tragedy. To support kids’ organizations in the San Antonio area, they founded the Jenifer Lynn Strait Foundation.
And as a result of the tragedy, George Strait made a crucial professional choice that has affected how we view the country legend: he rarely to never gives interviews.
Strait was already a very reclusive person. That was among the factors that led him to remain in San Marcos even as his career flourished. George Strait made the decision not to give any interviews after the incident because he anticipated being constantly barraged with inquiries about it.
This was a risky move in the pre-Internet era when magazine interviews and radio station appearances were the main methods of artist promotion. George Strait asserted in one of the few interviews he granted to The New Yorker in 2017 that.
“I just decided to quit because I didn’t want to talk about it…
I wanted to sing for longer. But I had reached the point where I thought, “Okay, if this means losing my career, so be it; it’s the only way I can deal with this.”. It just so happened to be that way. It wasn’t done intentionally”.
The music spoke for itself, and George Strait let it do the talking. Strait amassed eleven consecutive No. 1 singles between 1986 and 1989, which was unheard of at the time in country music, despite the tragedy and its aftermath.
In 1989 and 1990, the CMA honoured him as Entertainer of the Year. The song “Baby Blue” was one of those singles. George Strait is thought to have written and performed the song in honour of his daughter Jenifer, though this has never been confirmed in writing. Aaron Barker wrote the song, which Strait and Jimmy Bowen co-produced.
Today, October 6, 2022, is Jenifer Strait’s 50th birthday. George Strait Jr., George Strait’s son, is also born. Who he calls “Bubba” affectionately. These days, they frequently collaborate on songwriting.
But it is undeniable that George Strait was adversely affected in ways that are difficult to quantify by Jenifer Strait’s passing just as his career was beginning to peak. When you think of George Strait, you picture his calm, collected, reserved, and stoic hand at the wheel. If Jenifer’s passing hadn’t occurred, he might have been less reserved and more outspoken.
George Strait had to be the rock for his family to get through the tragedy of losing his daughter; as a result, he developed a reputation as the rock of country music. The country emerged as the “Class of ’89” with performers like Travis Tritt and Garth Brooks, while George Strait maintained his composure. He earned the title of “King” of contemporary country music in the same way.
