Heber Springs, Arkansas
Mindy McCready, who was once on top of the country charts, before personal problems sidetracked her career, died Sunday in Arkansas in an apparent suicide. She was 37.
The Cleburne County Sheriff's Office released a statement saying that McCready was found dead at a residence in Heber Springs from what appears to be a single, self-inflicted gunshot to the head. An autopsy is pending.
This wasn’t the first attempt for the singer.
McCready entered court-ordered rehab earlier this month after her father told a judge she was no longer taking care of herself or her children and was abusing drugs and alcohol. Her sons were put in foster care at the time, but it's not clear where Zander and Zayne were at the time of McCready's suicide.
There were additional issues for the troubled singer. McCready's longtime boyfriend David Wilson, the father of her younger son, died last month in Arkansas. Authorities found his body on the same porch they discovered McCready's on Sunday and his death also was investigated as a suicide.
Following Wilson’s death, she called him her soul mate and a caregiver to her sons in an interview with NBC's "Today." She said she'd never gone through anything as painful as his passing.
"I just keep telling myself that the more suffering that I go through, the greater character I'll have," she said, according to a transcript of the interview.
News of McCready's death spread quickly Sunday night on Twitter with major country stars paying their respects to Nashville's onetime darling.
"Too much tragedy to overcome. R.I.P Mindy McCready," wrote Natalie Maines of The Dixie Chicks.
And Jason Aldean added: "Just heard about Mindy McCready. My thoughts and prayers are with her 2 boys and her family."
Melinda Gayle McCready arrived in Nashville in 1994 still in her teens with tapes of her karaoke vocals and earned a recording contract with BNA Records.
In 1996, her "Guys Do It All the Time" hit No. 1 and its dig at male chauvinism endeared her to females. Her other hits included "Ten Thousand Angels," also in 1996, and her album by that title sold 2 million copies.
n May 2010, she was hospitalized briefly after police responded to an overdose call at a home in North Fort Myers, Fla., owned by her mother. This followed a stint on "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew," where she delcared herself clean from drugs. She is the fifth celebrity appearing on that show to have died.
In 2004, she was charged with obtaining the painkiller OxyContin fraudulently at a pharmacy. She pleaded guilty and was placed on three years' probation.
She violated the probation with a drunken driving arrest in May 2005. A few days after that arrest, she was beaten and her boyfriend at the time was charged with attempted criminal homicide. Then she attempted suicide in July 2005, overdosed in September 2005 and slit her wrists again in December 2008.
Also that year, McCready was charged in Arizona with hindering prosecution and unlawful use of transportation. Those charges stemmed from an alleged attempt in June 2005 to purchase two high performance boats, but she claimed she was trying to stop a con man.
And then, of course, she admitted to being involved with Roger Clemmons.
Her other singles included "Maybe He'll Notice Her Now," ''A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's Gotta Do)" and "You'll Never Know."
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