"Amazing" is one of the only words that can describe country singer Randy Travis' rendition of "Amazing Grace" at the Country Music Hall of Fame Sunday night.
Travis suffered congestive heart failure and a stroke in 2013. Sunday's performance was a rare time we've heard him sing since his famous voice went silent.
"There's nothing that's harder than a stroke," Pastor Tommy Nelson of the Denton Bible Church said in 2015. "It's tougher than a heart attack, tougher than cancer." Nelson performed a marriage ceremony between Travis and Mary Davis in March 2015. Back then, Travis was just beginning to walk slowly and communicate a little.
No one was sure if Travis would ever sing like he used to, though he said this in 2015:
"It is my prayer that, with continued healing, one day soon, I will be back on that stage exchanging music with my fans ... my friends, who with God's amazing grace, have brought me this far."
The Grammy-winning singer became a well-known name in country in the 1980s and 1990s with songs such as "Forever and Ever, Amen" and "On the Other Hand." Our Brentney Hamilton wrote a story that explains his legacy that's worth your read. Travis' life has been dotted with legal run-ins in North Texas as well as major victories like when his album Always and Forever hit the top of the Billboard charts for 43 weeks.
Sunday night, Travis was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and honored in Nashville, Tenn., for being the first country artist with an album that went platinum in its first year, NBC reports.
His performance of "Amazing Grace" at the event was a surprise to many.
"Randy stared death in the face, but death blinked," NBC reports his wife Davis-Travis as saying. "Today, God's proof of a miracle stands before you."
Travis was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame with fiddler Charlie Daniels and record producer Fred Foster, the Associated Press reports. Dolly Parton and Alan Jackson were some of the stars who offered tributes.
