Luke Bryan‘s life was forever changed after his big brother, Chris, was killed in a car accident in 1996. Luke was only 19 years old when Chris died, and put his dreams of moving to Nashville on the back-burner so he could help support his family.
Luke’s father finally convinced him to move to Nashville in 2001, and he released his first single in 2007. That single was “All My Friends Say,” and it reached the fifth spot on the charts, something that was definitely worth celebrating.
But 2007 was also a sad year for Luke. That year, his big sister, Kelly, passed away unexpectedly. She was only 39 years old.
Luke said the deaths of his brother and sister “rocked my world.” But despite that, he didn’t let himself wallow in grief. Instead, their deaths encouraged him to keep going for his dreams.
“It makes you appreciate chasing dreams, you know,” Luke said during an interview with TODAY. “You’re like, ‘Hey, you get one go-round at this thing called life and it’s very fragile, so you better go after your dreams.‘”
Luke did just that, and he quickly became one of country music’s biggest stars. But tragedy struck again in 2014, when Luke’s brother-in-law Ben passed away. Following Ben’s death, Luke and his wife, Caroline, took in their nieces, Kris and Jordan, and nephew, Til.
Adding Luke and Caroline’s two sons into the mix, the family is constantly on the run for one reason or another. So you can bet that they appreciate any amount of relaxation they can get. The place they retreat to for that relaxation is their spectacular beach home in Florida, which Luke and Caroline dedicated to Chris.
As Caroline revealed in an interview with Traditional Home, the couple named the four-story home “Snowman,” which was Chris’ nickname.
Although Chris was a big fan of golf, Caroline said he, “Evidently…wasn’t a great golfer.” He was known for scoring eight on a single hole, which golfers refer to as a “snowman.”
“Snowman became his nickname,” said Caroline. “We named our farm Red Bird Farm after Luke’s sister and wanted to honor Chris as well.”
Looking at the photos of Luke and Caroline’s beach home, we think that naming it after Chris was a beautiful way of honoring him. You can look through the gorgeous photos of the home here.
Luke also honors his brother and sister every time he sings his number one hit, “Drink a Beer.” You can tune in to the clip below to watch one of his most emotional performances of the song.