Joy McKean, an Australian country music star and Slim Dusty’s widow, has died after a lengthy battle with cancer. Mildred Geraldine Joy Kirkpatrick was born on 14 January 1930 and died on 25 May 2023 at the age of 93.
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EMI Music reported her death, saying she died peacefully, surrounded by her family.
McKean composed several of Slim Dusty’s most renowned songs and received the first Golden Guitar award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival for the tune “Lights on the Hill.”
Her musical collaboration with Slim, for which she was his manager, resulted in over 100 albums, eight million CDs sold, and 45 Golden Guitars.
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Slim, Another Day, Another Town (1996) and I’ve Been There and Back Again (1997) are two of her husband’s autobiographies that she co-wrote (2011).
Riding This Road, her memoir was released in 2014.
In 1991, she was awarded the Order of Australia for her contributions to the entertainment sector.
McKean founded the Tamworth Country Music Festival and the Country Music Association of Australia, and she was honored for her lifetime achievements at the 2019 Australian Women in Music Awards.
In honor of her 90th birthday, a sold-out event at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in 2020 featured Paul Kelly and Troy Cassar-Daley.
Her children, Anne Kirkpatrick and David Kirkpatrick, as well as four grandsons and six great-grandchildren, survive her.
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