NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Naomi Judd was celebrated with words and soaring music at a public memorial service Sunday that ended with her daughter Wynonna announcing that a tour planned for later this year would go on.
“Tonight is a celebration, and at the same time I can’t put into words how devastated I am,” Wynonna Judd said. “I miss her so much.
“After a lot of thought, I’m going to have to honour her and do this tour. I’m just going to have to,” she said to applause and cheers at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. “Tonight, as we close, the show must go on, as hard as it may be. And we will show up together and you will carry me.”
Judd died April 30 at age 76, one day before she and daughter Wynonna were scheduled to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The ceremony went on, though until Sunday it was unclear whether Wynonna Judd would continue plans for The Judds tour slated to begin in September.
In a statement provided to The Associated Press, the family said they lost her to “the disease of mental illness.”
Her daughter Ashley said on “Good Morning America” last week that her mother shot herself.
Brad Paisley and Emmylou Harris were among the performers who took the stage to honor Naomi Judd during “The River of Time” memorial service, which was broadcast live on CMT.
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