Though Blake Shelton is a known funny man, he’s dealt with his fair share of pain and heartbreak. At the age of 14, Blake lost his then 24-year-old brother Richie Shelton in a tragic car accident.

Richie’s death deeply impacted the singer and his entire family, but after Blake’s father, Rick Shelton, passed away in early 2012, Blake decided to co-write a song with wife Miranda Lambert about the pain of losing his brother.

“Over You” was created one night when Blake and Miranda were flipping through the channels and happened upon his Backstory episode on GAC-TV. After seeing Blake’s father talk about the tragic loss of Richie, the couple turned off the TV and started writing.

“It was really a great moment between us,” Miranda told Taste of Country. “It was like we moved to a deeper level, not just in our relationship, but also, we respect each other as artists, and being able to write something that personal with each other was really cool.”

And though Blake was incredibly proud of the song, he knew he could never record it and perform it multiple times so Miranda did and put it on her album.

In 2012, “Over You” won Song of the Year at the CMA awards, and on Season 3 of The Voice, Blake’s winning contestant Cassadee Pope sang her own rendition, which broke records on iTunes reaching No. 1 and staying there for several weeks. 

The song’s resonance is a product of the painful backstory that went into writing it, and Blake calls it one of the “proudest moments of his career.” 

Did you know about Blake’s brother Richie or the history behind the song, “Over You”? Tell us below!

Source: Taste of Country