Reba & Narvel: The Way They Were

From one of country's strongest to the latest country split, look back on the couple's 26-year marriage
By Kate Hogan
Updated August 05, 2015 05:00 PM

1 of 10

THANK THE ACADEMY

Credit: Ron Galella/WireImage

Glowing like the newlyweds they are, country singer Reba McEntire and husband of about two years, Narvel Blackstock, arrive at the 63rd Annual Academy Awards in 1991. Blackstock played guitar in McEntire's band before eventually becoming her business manager.

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 10

COUNTRY STRONG

Credit: Ron Galella/WireImage

That same year – and with the same early '90s style – the couple gets all dressed up again for the 26th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, where McEntire scores trophies for both Top Female Vocalist and Video of the Year.

3 of 10

TOUR DE FORCE

Credit: Ron Galella/WireImage

Ahead of a 127-date tour, the Blackstocks band together for a 1993 press conference. That year McEntire keeps her schedule packed with a TV movie, Is There Life Out There?, as well.

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 10

KEEPING CLOSE

Credit: Ron Galella/WireImage

"It's neat to see them interact," McEntire's tour manager Graeme Lagden tells PEOPLE in 1994, four years before the pair steps out at the One True Thing premiere in L.A. "They're great business partners and obviously very much in love. They absolutely wear well together."

Advertisement

5 of 10

HAPPY FAMILY

Credit: Rex USA

Another year, another red carpet for the couple, this one at a Macy's event in Santa Monica, California, in 2001, with son Shelby, then 11. Blackstock also has three children from a previous marriage: daughters Shawna and Chassidy, and son Brandon (now also a manager and married to Kelly Clarkson).

6 of 10

ANYTHING BUT BLUE

Credit: Matt Baron/BEImages

Blackstock proudly stands by his wife's side at her 2006 CMT Giants honors in Hollywood. "Narvel and I have the same dream," she tells PEOPLE. "He's the thinker-upper and I'm the doer."

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 10

VEGAS, BABY

Credit: Jae C. Hong/AP

"I miss him when we're apart," McEntire tells PEOPLE of Blackstock, with her here at the 2009 ACM Awards in Vegas. "[We] never leave each other without a kiss and 'I love you.' "

Advertisement
Advertisement

8 of 10

THE IN CROWD

Credit: Ed Rode/Getty

Blackstock hangs with his other VIP client, Blake Shelton (plus McEntire and Shelton's ex-wife Miranda Lambert) at the 2011 Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony in Nashville, where McEntire was honored.

Advertisement

9 of 10

GROWING GROUP

Credit: Getty

Months before her wedding to Blackstock's son, Kelly Clarkson happily hangs with her in-laws-to-be at the 2013 ACM Awards. "I have the coolest mother-in-law," Clarkson tells PEOPLE two years later. McEntire echoes the sentiment: "Kelly and I have been buddies since 2002, and she's a great, great person, and I just love her to pieces."

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

10 of 10

CHANGES AFOOT

Credit: Larry Busacca/Getty

One of the couple's final public appearances comes in April 2015 at the ACM Awards. In August, they announce their separation after 26 years of marriage. "Despite this being the end of their marriage, they continue to support each other," a rep says in a statement. "They have worked together for 35 years and will continue to do so. They have asked that you respect their privacy during this time."

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Up Next

By Kate Hogan