STAUNTON, Va.(WHSV) -- Country music and Staunton legend Harold Reid, who sang bass for the Grammy-winning country group the Statler Brothers died last night at his home in Staunton. Reid had a long battle with kidney failure. He was 80 years old.
Harold Reid of the Statler Brothers
Reid was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
Jimmy Fortune, the Statler Brothers tenor, said Reid was fighting kidney failure for a few years.
"He told me, he said, I've been a blessed man, I'm ready to go whenever the Lord calls me, so I knew he was ready, and I know he knew where he was going," Fortune said.
Even throughout his battle, he continued to make his family and friends laugh.
"I never got tired of watching Harold get up [on stage] and just act crazy and get laugh after laugh after laugh. He had people eating out of the palm of his hand," Fortune said. "The same joke you could hear it over a hundred times and you would still laugh as hard as you did the first time."
Reid was a founding member of the group that evolved into the Statler Brothers named after a brand of tissues.
Fortune said he was able to talk to Reid a few weeks before his passing.
"We talked about the things we really missed but reminisced in a good way and we laughed a lot, so it was a good visit we had. I think from that point on, he kinda kept going downhill and really took a turn for the worse in the last week," Fortune said. "Even though we knew it was coming, you're just never ready."
The group began singing gospel music in 1948, later switching to country music after meeting country legend Johnny Cash and joining his roadshow.
"Quite a brilliant guy, as far as, the stuff that he knew and the way he entertained, his singing voice, his love for life, his passion for what he did," Fortune said.
Fortune said after the Statler Brothers retired in 2002, Reid spent much of his time with family.
"Almost 18 years of being with his family, to spend time with his children, and his grandchildren and his wife," Fortune said. "I mean, what a blessing, you know. It really was a blessing and how could you ask for anything better and he said the same thing."
Fortune said Reid was able to be with family in his final days in his hometown of Staunton.
"He has all that support and all that love around him, and so, for that, I was really happy for him," Fortune said.
Fortune says he hopes when it is safe for groups to gather again that family, friends, and fans can hold a memorial service honoring Reid.
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Harold Reid, founding member of the Statler Brothers and valley native, dies at 80 - WHSV
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