Joyce Reeves Milsap, the wife of country star Ronnie Milsap, died Tuesday at age 81. No cause of death was immediately given.
The couple wed in 1965, more than a decade before the singer came to prominence, and were often characterized as joined at the hip as he rose to become one of country’s biggest stars in the ’70s and ’80s. Country music fans and experts often spoke of Ronnie and “Joycie’s” relationship in the same terms as a Johnny-and-June. The couple’s 56th wedding anniversary would have been Oct. 30.
“I always thought of them as a duo,” said former Sony Nashville chairman Joe Galante, famously a champion of Ronnie Milsap over the decades. “Even though it was always the dynamic Ronnie Milsap, Joyce was everywhere and a true part of everything. Ronnie knew no bounds as an artist and entertainer, and Joyce was there making those connections, filling in any gaps. She was a supporter, a guiding light and a defender when something wasn’t getting done… and because he couldn’t see faces, she’d be that person for him, too.”
“Country music might well have missed the soulful sounds of Hall of Famer Ronnie Milsap without the passion, acumen and love of Joyce Reeves Milsap,” said Sarah Trahern, CEO of the Country Music Association, which named him entertainer of the year in 1977. “Ronnie and his Joycie were one of those inseparable couples who truly were one. Yes, he was the superstar, but she was the woman who not only loved the man, but held him up so everyone else could see and feel their love inside all that classic music. Our hearts go out to Ronnie and their family at this sad time.”
Although the cause of death wasn’t announced, she had been known to be battling leukemia in 2014, when, altogether uncharacteristically, she missed the ceremony in which he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Ronnie Milsap, 78, celebrated Joyce in a statement, saying, “There are no words, and not enough songs in the world, to explain how much I love my Sapphire. She was the music and the feeling inside all of those songs, so if you loved my music, you understand some of how much I loved my my beautiful, beautiful wife. It’s all in the songs, but she was even more. She was the love of my life, the mother of my son, the world’s happiest grandmother — and someone who woke up every day curious and ready for whatever adventure she could get into.”
Milsap continued, “When people tell me they love my music, I always smile, because that music is pure Joyce. We went through lean times laughing, good times beyond our imagination, tough times where we held on to each other for dear life. Blessedly/thankfully, she’s in heaven with our Todd – and I know somehow from heaven, she’s still here with me every day, because that’s just how she was.”
Their son, Todd, died in 2019 at age 49.
Joyce snd Ronnie Milsap have had a renowned and well known romance through 54 years of marriage … She passed on to Glory this morning … love and prayers to our brother … @ronniemilsap
