Grand Ole Opry welcomes ex-’Idol’ Carrie Underwood

Grand Ole Opry welcomes ex-’Idol’ Carrie Underwood

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Carrie Underwood, 25, is the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry.

The singer joined the cast of the long-running country music show Saturday. Garth Brooks handled her formal induction and Vince Gill sang a duet with her.

The former “American Idol” winner sold 7 million copies of her debut album “Some Hearts” and shot to superstardom almost overnight with hits including “Before He Cheats” and “Jesus, Take the Wheel.”

Her follow-up album, “Carnival Ride,” came out last fall and has produced two No. 1s: “So Small” and “All-American Girl.”

Bus accident takes life of gospel singer Rambo

MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — Joyce “Dottie” Rambo, an influential gospel singer and songwriter, died early Sunday when her tour bus ran off the highway and struck an embankment. She was 74.

Seven other people on the bus were injured in the wreck about two miles east of Mount Vernon.

Rambo was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame last year and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

Rambo has had more than 2,500 published songs, including gospel classics such as “He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need” and the 1982 Gospel Music Association Song of the Year, “We Shall Behold Him.”

Today’s birthdays

Composer Burt Bacharach is 80. Comedian George Carlin is 71. Country singer Billy Swan is 66. Actress Linda Dano (“Another World”) is 65. Steve Winwood is 60. Actress Lindsay Crouse is 60. Actor Bruce Boxleitner is 58. Singer Billy Squier is 58. Actor Gabriel Byrne is 58. Country singer Kix Brooks of Brooks and Dunn is 53. Actor Ving Rhames is 49. Guitarist Billy Duffy of The Cult is 47. Actor Emilio Estevez is 46. Keyboardist Eddie Kilgallon (Ricochet) is 43. Actor Stephen Baldwin is 42. Actress Kim Fields is 39. Actress Jamie Luner (“Melrose Place,” “Profiler”) is 37. Actor Mackenzie Astin is 35. Actor Jason Biggs (“American Pie”) is 30. Actor Malcolm David Kelley (“Lost”) is 16. Actors Sullivan and Sawyer Sweeten (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) are 13.