Before we knew him as happy-go-lucky country star Luke Bryan, he was a small town boy who grew up on a farm in Georgia with big dreams. At age 19, he had a plan in place that he would move to Nashville and become a huge country star. Yes, that did happen, but not without his fair share of trials and tribulations.
In a 2017 special with Good Morning America‘s Robin Roberts titled Living Every Day: Luke Bryan, Bryan invited her into his world and really dove deep into those difficult times that built him into the man, the father, the songwriter, and the performer he is today.
Shortly before he was planning on making the big move, his older brother Chris was killed in a car accident. Bryan put his dreams on hold to be there for his family. Instead of writing country songs, he went to college at Georgia Southern University and graduated with a business administration degree.
After college, he went back to working on the farm for a few more years, when his father fired him and told him to pack his bags and finally make the move to Nashville. Bryan says that his parents always knew he wanted to be a country singer, but needed the extra push to be told that it was okay to leave. Finally, his father told him, “This life will always be here,” and to follow his dreams because, as they knew too well, life was fragile.
He was now in Nashville, over ten years after he had originally planned, but he made the most of it. He was signed to Capitol Records and on April 6, 2007, he made his Grand Ole Opry debut. He explained in the interview that that day, he and his sister took what would be the last photo they would ever take together, as she passed away a month later.
“Just when we started picking up the pieces with my brother… we lose my sister,” he told Roberts. “I just watched my mother, and our whole family, go back to square one.”
While Bryan admitted there are days that are harder than others, he knew he had to keep living.
“You have to honor their memory by living and you have to be a positive light for people,” he says poignantly.
Roberts pointed out that it had been gloomy all day, but once Bryan spoke about his siblings, the sun came out in a powerful way.
What Bryan didn’t talk about, but Roberts touches on after the clip aired on GMA, is that a couple years ago, Bryan and his wife took in his teenage nephew Til after his brother-in-law passed away. As a father and uncle, he tries to help his sons and nephew live life to the fullest because that’s how he knows his brother and sister would have wanted it.
Although all of this may be common knowledge for his most dedicated fans, he doesn’t open up about his siblings’ deaths too often. Watch a clip from the special Living Every Day below.