Songwriter Kyle Jacobs, Husband of Kellie Pickler, Dead of Apparent Suicide
Tragic news out of Nashville as beloved country music songwriter, vocalist, and musician Kyle Jacobs has died in an incident Metro Nashville Police are characterizing as an apparent suicide. Kyle Jacobs was also the husband of country artist, television personality, and the 2012 winner of Saving Country Music’s Album of the Year, Kellie Pickler.
According to the Metro Nashville Police Department, they responded to a 911 called from a home on Sneed Road in Nashville at 1:21 pm on Friday (2-17) afternoon. Pickler told police she awoke a short time before, did not see Jacobs, and began looking for him. After she and her personal assistant were unable to open the door to an upstairs bedroom/office where they believed Jacobs was at, the assistant called 911.
When police and fire department personnel arrived at the residence, they found Kyle Jacobs deceased of an “apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.” Police also said in a statement, “His death is being investigated as an apparent suicide.” No other information is currently available pending further investigation.
Born Kyle Christopher Jacobs on June 26, 1973, he was originally from Bloomington, Minnesota and made a name in country music as a songwriter. Jacobs co-wrote the #1 song “More Than a Memory” performed by Garth Brooks, which became the first song to debut at #1 in Billboard country chart history.
Kyle Jacobs also wrote songs for wife Kellie Picker, George Strait, Randy Travis, Ruston Kelly, Scotty McCreery, Trace Adkins, Jo Dee Messina, Craig Morgan, Tim McGraw, Clay Walker, Eli Young Band, and more. As a musician, Jacobs regularly performed on the albums from Lee Brice, of whom he was close friends with.
Kellie Pickler announced her engagement to Kyle Jacobs on June 23, 2010, and the pair were married on New Years Day, 2011. The two starred together on the CMT reality TV show I Love Kellie Pickler. Jacobs also helped found the United Teens Encounter Christ, or UTEC in Minnesota, and also played in the music team.
Kyle Jacobs was 49 years old.
If you need help, please call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or dial 988.
February 17, 2023 @ 8:56 pm
He also cowrote “Rumor,” his friend Brice’s bluesy 2018 hit. Suicide always is a shock and this one seemingly came out of nowhere. R.i.p. Kyle Jacobs and condolences to Kellie Pickled, midday jock on The Highway on SiriusXM.
February 17, 2023 @ 8:59 pm
PICKLER! Apologies for the typo, obviously no derogatory intent meant.
February 17, 2023 @ 9:30 pm
As I’ve written about here before, I once attempted suicide. 120 pills. I changed my mind and called 911. 911 sucked and I called the front desk at the hotel of checked into. I met the ambulance outside as the city lights and the ambulance lights melded along with the haze of my consciousness. It was like Vegas on acid.
I wasn’t even depressed when this happened. I’d had really bad anxiety that I’d self medicated with about 4-6 months earlier, but I’d been mostly sober since. My dear grandmother though had had a stroke a month.
People die of suicide every day and I imagine their loved ones and friends want to know why. I am a suicide survivor and I have loved ones and friends and very few seem to want to know why. Harsh, but true.
I didn’t know it when I started this comment, but Vern Gosdin’s “Chiseled In Stone” can say much better anything more I have to say.
Thoughts and prayers to Kyle and Kellie’s families and friends.
February 18, 2023 @ 7:11 am
appreciate you sharing that JB
February 18, 2023 @ 9:07 pm
Thanks Doyle (great name by the way). I’ve been told I’m very loud and proud regarding my mental health. I’m a relatively lucky and “privileged” guy in that regard. I feel blessed to even inspire anyone like you to acknowledge me and my stories.
February 18, 2023 @ 6:26 am
Prayers to Kellie and the family. Especially the kids if they had any. My father in law shot himself 6 months ago at 56. We were all blind sided, never in a million years would have thought. Having to tell our 8 and 9 year old kids their grandpa was dead was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life
February 18, 2023 @ 10:36 am
My condolences, Ben and family.
February 18, 2023 @ 6:57 am
Very sad. My wife is a fan of American Idol and of Kellie. We watched the TV show and Kyle seemed to be such a happy and outgoing guy. Sometimes these things are so hard to understand. Condolences to Kellie and their family.
February 18, 2023 @ 10:42 am
My condolences to Kelly Pickler; liked her since American Idol. As a still mildly ill partially disabled still aspiring singer/songwriter at age 79, I submitted some comments on undiagnosed food allergy/additive related epidemic chronic disease and premature mortality last December through the “Contact” form, with no follow-up. Obviously, to me, if country music is to survive so must the singers and songwriters. And, now, there’s the possibility of long Covid and/or a severe reaction to one of the vaccines causing acute depression. I can only speculate that Kyle suffered some kind of long-term mental health problem but if he did it was probably preventable. More on the “About” page of my still non-economic Odysee dot com/@charlesgshaver video channel.
February 18, 2023 @ 12:33 pm
I’m not surprised at the comments saying he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, I have had way too many friends end their lives and it is never the guy everyone thinks is an asshole. Being a songwriter I would say that most people who make it a part of our lives are sensitive to the plight and pain of the world around us. Also it is very much an internal thing that can be lonely. Maybe not souch in Nashville where there is a big community of writers, but at the end of the day a song is all in your head/heart and can at times be a lot to carry. Personally I am enough of an asshole not to have ever been suicidal but I certainly have been depressed. I hope his family can find some peace and comfort at some point down the road. It’s always tragic and there is no cure for the pain.
February 18, 2023 @ 6:02 pm
Sadness.
February 18, 2023 @ 7:52 pm
One of my best friends in high school was a good athlete, a good lead guitarist, popular with the girls, and, above all, was extremely intelligent – on his way to possibly being at least the salutatorian of our graduating class. However, early in our senior year he had a “nervous breakdown,” and did not complete the school year. For ten years thereafter he was plagued with serious mental issues, despite several hospitalizations and undergoing intensive, long-term psychiatric treatment. Ten years after our class graduated high school, he pulled his car into his garage, shut the garage door, got back in the car with the engine running, and . . . you know the rest. I have never personally been familiar with a greater waste of a life. Recently several of his old buddies, including me, were in a tavern recalling old times, when his name was brought up. After a prolonged silence one of the friends summed it up best, when he broke the silence by saying, “Every time I think about him, I still get pissed off!”
February 18, 2023 @ 9:09 pm
I just do not understand. Why this keeps happening. It is preventable….but no one person is ever responsible ! I am a therapist and I have seen things and had suicidal thoughts in my past… Please everyone, if you see any signs just reach out and advocate. Nobody is responsible when this does happen, but family is so left empty an there life is forever changed. Anyone considering please ask for help. You are gone but Your family left to grieve. THINK about it more!!
February 19, 2023 @ 10:11 am
Also apologizing to all for misspelling Kellie’s first name, check out my comments. Still unaware of most details about Kyle’s life, I’ve now been writing on some aspects of the big picture of mostly preventable premature US mortality for seventeen years and counting.
February 18, 2023 @ 9:18 pm
I read about this on another site. Very sad. Seems like it was out of the blue but maybe more to the story than what we know. It’s been said that suicide is a preventable death. However I don’t see it that way. While I personally have never been that low to do something like that, I’ve been low enough to understand it. People have different thresholds of what they can handle and talking to a person or a group isn’t always an antidote. Plus it can be different things that bring people to that doorstep and something’s just can’t be fixed. I hope time can ease the pain his family n friends may be feeling and may he rest in peace.
February 18, 2023 @ 9:24 pm
Anthony Bourdain used to go gallavanting around the U.S. and the globe, from Boston to New Orleans to Paris Palermo to New Delhi to Bankok, finding great places to hang out and to eat and meeting the locals and the chefs and having great meals and sending back dispatches to CNN. When he went off and killed himself I said, this is hopelesss, because I ain’t never going to have a life near as great as Anthony Boudain’s
February 20, 2023 @ 1:57 pm
So sad. I feel so bad for Kellie as she’s overcome so much in her life. Raised in a trailer park by her grandparents after her mother abandoned her and her father was in and out of jail. She worked hard to make the most out of her situation. They both were very active in volunteering with the USO and did tours overseas, even at Christmas time. Seemed like really good people.
July 6, 2023 @ 5:50 am
Sweet girl bless your heart you have been through so much,and you are still a ray of light.My prayers are with you and your family.
Popses18