Oak Ridge Boys Spend Easter Mourning

Easter Sunday was filled with sadness for the Oak Ridge Boys.  On a holiday that was supposed to be celebrating resurrection, the Oak Ridge Boys family suffered two losses.

Two treasured family members were lost within a 24 hour period, making it for a pretty sad holiday.

Norah Lee Allen, wife of lead vocalist Duane Allen, passed after a battle with a long illness. Allen was hospitalized at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville at the time of her passing.

"This morning, my wife of 54 years and 8 months took her last breath of air on planet Earth," Allen wrote in a note to media.

"She had not been feeling well for some time. Her family all spent the night with her last night at Vanderbilt Hospital. We took time singing with and to her, telling her stories, and loving her every second that God let us share her here on Earth."

Norah, a full-time member of the Grand Ole Opry bank in 1980, was an accomplished singer.  She first performed with her sisters in The Stuart Sisters Trio under the guidance of her father.  In 1968 she joined the Chuck Wagon Gang where she performed as a gospel singer.

After marrying Duane Allen and residing in Nashville, Norah performed with some of the biggest names in the industry on the Grand Ole Opry stage.

The second passing was announced just hours later when Richard Sterban's wife Donna lost her father.  Sterban is the Oak Ridge Boys' famous bass voice in the quartet.

Richard and Donna were married on September 21, 1988.  No further details have been released about Donna's father.

The famous country group, with these members, has been together since 1973 when Joe Bonsall signed on as tenor.  Over the years the four-part harmony group has received 23 Grammy nominations earning five awards, 15 Country Music Association Awards nominations winning two.  One of those was for the Single of the Year "Elvira" in 1981.  The group was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2000 and in 2011, they were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.