Joey Feek Passed Away On March 4, 2016
Joey + Rory were a country-singing duo comprised of real-life married couple Joey and Rory Feek, who made their mark and stole the hearts of many after they competed on the 2008 television show Can You Duet?
They placed third, but still got signed to a record label and released a few songs, like “Cheater, Cheater” that charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Fans followed their journey online as Rory began writing blog posts about their life, which included welcoming a daughter, Indiana, on February 17, 2014. Indiana was diagnosed with Down Syndrome after she was born and just three months later, Joey was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
After surgery and some treatment, she was cancer-free, but it returned a little over a year later in June 2015, and had metastasized to her colon. She underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy that summer.
While undergoing treatment, Joey recorded hymns in her hotel room to be included on her final work with her husband, Hymns That Are Important To Us. The album was released on February 12, 2016 and won the Grammy Award for Best Roots Gospel Album the following year.
Sadly, Joey would never see the success of the album, as she passed away on March 4, 2016.
Rory has kept her legacy alive by continuing to tell stories about her to their daughter, Indiana, now 12.
Although Rory remarried in 2024 to a woman named Rebecca, he often pays tribute to his late wife on social media.
Rory Feek Paid Tribute To His Late Wife On The Anniversary Of Her Passing
On March 4, 2025, Rory shared a video of himself sitting next to Joey’s gravesite at the Feek family farm in Tennessee.
“Ten years ago today…Joey took her last breath here in this world and a moment later, her very first one in Heaven. And though her time on earth was through, her impact on the world was just beginning. In the months and years that followed, millions of people have been moved, touched and inspired by her music and even more so, her life,” he wrote.
His video was accompanied by Joey’s angelic voice singing the song “Nothing To Remember,” which was included on her solo album If Not For You. This album was included as part of a bundle with Joey + Rory’s gospel album.
He continued writing, saying that Joey was the bravest person he knew, never complained during her cancer battle, never once felt sorry for herself, and knew that her situation was all part of God’s plan.
“Joey knew what mattered most in life and lived it out every single day, even and especially in the smallest of things. As pretty as she was, she was even more beautiful on the inside. In the end, when all of the external beauty was taken, it only made room for the light inside her to shine even brighter,” he wrote. “Joey showed me for the first time in my life, what real, selfless love looked like, and inspired us all to live life to the fullest and more importantly, how to fully live life to the end.”
The “Some Beach” songwriter explained that Joey knew her time on Earth was coming to an end and she was already praying for Rory and Indy’s life after she is gone and for a new partner for Rory, which ended up coming true.
Rory revealed that “Nothing To Remember” was the first song he and Joey ever wrote together, which he calls “a prophetic message of how having loved someone makes having lost them more than worth it.”
See his beautiful tribute below.