Just one day before the Judds were set to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, and just 18 days after the mother-daughter country duo had announced their farewell tour, the band’s Naomi Judd has died at age 76.

Wynonna Judd and her sister, actress Ashley Judd, announced Naomi’s the shocking news Saturday in a statement that read: “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.”

The Judd daughters’ statement did not provide any other details about their mother’s passing. In 2016, Naomi released the memoir River of Time: My Descent Into Depression and How I Emerged With Hope, in which she wrote about her battle with mental illness.

Born Diana Ellen Judd in Ashland, Kentucky, Naomi was working as a single mother and nurse in Nashville, when she and Wynonna started singing together professionally. Their unique harmonies, together with elements of acoustic music, bluegrass and blues, made them stand out in the genre at the time.

The Judds released six studio albums and an EP between 1984 and 1991 and won nine Country Music Association Awards and seven from the Academy of Country Music. They earned a total of five Grammy Awards together on hits like “Why Not Me” and “Give A Little Love,” and Naomi earned a sixth Grammy for writing “Love Can Build a Bridge.”

Our prayers go out to the Judd family.

THE CULTURE KEEPER-