Multi-award winning Australian songwriter and musician Joy McKean OAM has died at the age of 93.
McLean “passed away peacefully last night with family by her side after a long battle with cancer”, EMI Recorded Music has announced in a statement.
“She will be remembered as a pioneer in Australian music,” the statement reads.
McKean wrote many of her husband Slim Dusty’s most famous songs and won the first Golden Guitar award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival for the song ‘Lights on the Hill’.
Read Related Also: Candiace Dillard & Drew Sidora Release Single ‘Affirmations Pt. II’
Her musical partnership with Slim, in which she was his manager, produced over 100 albums, sold over eight million albums and earned 45 Golden Guitars.
She has previously been described by Paul Kelly as “one of our greatest songwriters”, while Troy Cassar-Daley called her “a national treasure”.
McKean is survived by her children Anne Kirkpatrick and David Kirkpatrick, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Sign up here to receive our daily newsletters and breaking news alerts, sent straight to your inbox.
