This day in 1989, Keith Whitley was found dead of alcohol poisoning in his Nashville home. Sadly, his career had just hit an all time high. He was survived by his wife, Lorrie Morgan.

On the morning of Tuesday, May 9, 1989, Whitley awoke and had a brief phone call with his mother. He was then visited by his brother-in-law Lane Palmer, and the two had coffee and they were planning a day of golf and having lunch, after which Whitley had planned to start writing songs for Lorrie Morgan and himself to record when she returned from her concert tour. Palmer departed at approximately 8:30 a.m., informing Whitley to be ready to leave within an hour. Upon returning, Palmer found Whitley unconscious on his bed and called an ambulance. Whitley was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The official cause of death was determined to be acute alcohol poisoning and Davidson County Medical Examiner Charles Harlan stated that his blood alcohol level was 0.47 (the equivalent of 20 1-ounce shots of 100-proof whiskey and almost five times the then Tennessee level of 0.10 legal driving limit, and nearly six times the current 0.08 legal limit to drive). Whitley was 33.

The day after his death, Music Row was lined with black ribbons in memory of Whitley. He is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery outside Nashville, Tennessee. His gravestone reads, “Forever yours faithfully” and “His being was my reason”. The “yours” in part one means Whitley, and the “my” in part two means Morgan, who has a future burial spot next to him.

Source: Wikipedia