Luke Bryan is one of America’s most popular country music performers, selling more than 27 million singles worldwide and recording 14 number one singles in just 10 years performing.
While Bryan has had his share of success on stage, the country music superstar has dealt with tragedy as well. His older brother Chris died in a car accident at the age of 26, his sister Kelly in 2007, and her husband in 2014.
Unfortunately, we have just learned that Bryan’s niece Sadie Brett Boyer, who was less than one year old, passed away Tuesday.
From Fox News:
Luke Bryan thanked his fans for their prayers after revealing his infant niece Sadie Brett Boyer died Tuesday. Boyer was born in the summer of 2016 and was battling an undisclosed cardiac heart issue as well as several other conditions.
Boyer was the daughter of Luke Bryan’s wife Caroline’s brother Bo Boyer and his wife Ellen Boyer.
—
The family stayed relatively quiet about the baby’s condition, however, Bryan shared several updates on his app about her condition. Two months ago, Bryan revealed his niece was undergoing treatment at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville, according to Taste of Country.
Bryan took to Twitter to thank his fans for their support:
We thank all of you for your prayers. Love y’all.
— Luke Bryan (@LukeBryanOnline) February 21, 2017
In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Bryan explained the challenges of being in the public light when dealing with personal tragedy:
But I think transparency is good for fans. And then when you talk about what’s happened in my personal life, with all the loss in my family, our modus operandi of all that is to help people at the end of the day. If they can understand they’re not alone in challenges, and if I can smile through it, maybe they can.
Fans of Bryan took to Twitter to express the condolences:
rip sweet sadie brett💓 praying for you and your beautiful family @LukeBryanOnline pic.twitter.com/Xx1SBqKY6Y
— em || lb&cb❥ (@lukebryan4u) February 21, 2017
prayers for luke, caroline and her family 💓 @LukeBryanOnline
— queen carol❥♛ (@cbisqueen_) February 21, 2017
Heavy heart today thinking of you @LukeBryanOnline & your family. Hits close to home, my sister passed when she was an infant. Stay Strong ❤
— Kati (@LovinLB0721) February 22, 2017
The country music star also explained how his personal tragedies have unfortunately coincided with his professional success:
That’s just been the frustrating part about my venture in music. It seems like, gosh, every time we are climbing out of something like that, the rug gets pulled out from under our family again. It’s going on 20 years. My brother passed away in ’96 and about time we got over — when we were coming up for air, and my mother was starting to really heal more — then my sister passes away. We feel that whole cycle. And I’ve got this music career skyrocketing through all of that.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Bryan and his entire family during this tragic time.