Malinda Gayle McCready

 Malinda Gayle McCready (November 30, 1975 – February 17, 2013)

Active from 1995 until her death in 2013, she recorded a total of five studio albums. Her debut album, 1996's Ten Thousand Angels, was released on BNA Records and was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA, while 1997's If I Don't Stay the Night was certified Gold. 1999's I'm Not So Tough, her final album for BNA, was less successful, and she left the label. A self-titled fourth album followed in 2002 on Capitol Records. McCready's fifth and final studio album, I'm Still Here, was released in March 2010 on Iconic Records. McCready's first four studio albums yielded twelve singles on the Billboard country singles charts. This figure includes the No. 1 hit "Guys Do It All the Time," as well as the Top 10 hits "Ten Thousand Angels" and "A Girl's Gotta Do (What a Girl's Gotta Do)." However, the last decade of her life was marred by legal and person issues. In August 2004, McCready was arrested in Tennessee for using a fake prescription to buy the painkiller OxyContin. Although she initially denied the charge, she pleaded guilty and was fined $4,000, sentenced to three years of probation, and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. In May 2005, McCready was stopped by Nashville police for speeding, then arrested and charged with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. She was once engaged to actor Dean Cain, and had a long term relationship with Baseball Pitcher Roger Clemens. McCready was also in an abusive relationship with singer William Knight, whom she had a child with. She had another child with record producer David Wilson. Wilson committed suicide by gunshot in January 2013.

On February 17, 2013, McCready's neighbors called the Sheriff's Office of Cleburne County, Arkansas, reporting gunshots. McCready was found dead on her front porch from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the same place where Wilson had fatally shot himself one month prior. She was 37 years old, and is buried in an unmarked grave at Alva Cemetery in Alva, Florida.