40 Years Ago: The Love Story of Keith Whitley and Lorrie Morgan Begins

If you want something done in country music, give it to Lorrie Morgan to do. Things that on paper might have seemed impossible, Lorrie Morgan has pulled off, and multiple times now. How did her former husband and country legend Keith Whitley get into the Country Music Hall of Fame when his career was cut so tragically short at the age of 34? Blame Lorrie Morgan, and her dogged determination to make that happen, and via one of the hardest institutions in country music to crack.

How was Keith Whitley posthumously inducted into the Grand Ole Opry when this is something the Hank Williams family has worked towards for going on two decades now and still can’t accomplish? Yep, Lorrie Morgan. She won’t take no for an answer, and it’s her championing of Whitley’s legacy that has allowed it to continue to loom large here nearly 40 years after his death. In many respects, it’s a love story that never ceased.

But how did it all begin?

Like so many of the love stories involving country music’s super couples, it all started backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, 40 years ago today, April 12th, 1986.

Granted, April 12th was not the first time Lorrie Morgan was made aware of Keith Whitley. As she tells the story to the Country Music Hall of Fame,

“I was a receptionist at Acuff-Rose (a song publisher), and at lunch time or in the evening time, I was also their demo singer. So I’d take my lunch break and I would sing demos. This one particular day, I was taking my lunch break, I went to the back of the building to get a Coca-Cola out of the machine, and I heard somebody singing in the studio. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, that is a beautiful voice.’ So I walked around, and the guy was singing ‘Does Ft. Worth Ever Cross Your Mind.'”

Lorrie Morgan asked, “Who is singing?” and they said, “It’s Keith Whitley.” She immediately fell in love with Whitley’s voice. Morgan’s producer at the time was Ronnie Gant, and his brother Don Gant was producing Keith. So they introduced Lorrie to Keith, and to Keith’s then wife Kathi (Littleton) who was sitting there on the couch in the office. So any romantic notions Lorrie Morgan might have had in that moment were dashed.

“I ran into him a couple more times after that doing the Ralph Emory morning show,” Lorrie goes on to explain. “And every time he sang, I had chills all over my body. It was just crazy.”

But in 1985, Keith Whitley and Kathi got a divorce, opening up an opportunity for Lorrie Morgan. And as Lorrie has proven many times over the years, when she wants something, she gets it. Despite having met him briefly and seeing him sing, “It was [all] before I really got to know Keith,” Lorrie explains. “And then I was on my way to the Opry, and I heard this song called ‘Miami, My Amy,’ And I said, ‘I know that’s that guy Keith Whitley.'”

Lorrie Morgan was so floored, she pulled her car over on Briley Pkwy to listen. Radio announcer Keith Bilbrey said, “That’s the #15 song this week by newcomer Keith Whitley, and he’s gonna be on our Opry tonight.” Lorrie thanked God. She met Keith Whitley backstage again that night, and Whitley asked her out on a date. The rest is history.

The next day, Lorrie Morgan called up her ex-husband, George Jones bass player Ron Gattis, and told him she’s had a change of heart about trying to get back together. Instead, she went on her first date with Keith Whitley. Where was this romantic first date for the now two country legends? It was at the Wendy’s near Nashville’s Centennial Park that’s still there to this day. Lorrie and Keith would be married by November.

Keith Whitley’s song “Tell Lorrie I Love Her” captured on a work tape, and released on his Greatest Hits compilation really encapsulates the love between the two country stars.

“Tell Lorrie I love her
Tell Lorrie I need her
And if I leave this old world
Tell her she’s the only girl for me.”

Of course, the love story ended tragically on May 9th, 1989 when Keith Whitley died due to alcohol poisoning. But Lorrie Morgan’s love for that voice that made her break out in chills the first time she heard it, and pull the car over on Briley Pkwy when it came out of her speakers, it never died.

Lorrie Morgan would go on to date Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Troy Aikman, be married to Sammy Kershaw for a spell, as well as songwriter/producer Jon Randall. But to this day, there is no bigger champion of the legacy of Keith Whitley than Lorrie Morgan. And it’s that championing that has kept the music of Keith Whitley alive here 40 years after their love story first started.

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