Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert co-wrote her #1 hit, “Over You,” about Blake’s late brother, Richie, who died in a car accident when Blake was growing up in Oklahoma. Blake hasn’t spoken publicly about his brother that much in the past, but he goes in-depth about Richie in a new cover story for Men’s Journal.

Blake refers to Richie as his hero in the article. He often went fishing with his big brother, and they shared a love of country music through Richie’s record collection.

“The guy was my hero,” Blake says. “Talk about worship – he was the coolest guy on Earth.”

Blake remembers exactly where he was the morning of Richie’s fatal car accident.

He says, “I was standing outside, waiting for a buddy to pick me up for school, and I heard all these ambulances go by. I didn’t think anything of it.”

Blake’s father came and got him out of school, and he realized those sirens were for his brother. Two other lives were claimed when Richie’s girlfriend’s car slammed into the back of a school bus. Richie’s girlfriend perished as well along with her four-year-old son.

Says Blake, “It was a three-casket funeral.They buried him on his fifth birthday.”

Writing “Over You” with Miranda about that loss was healing for Blake. His father got to hear the song and see it become a hit before passing away last year.

Blake also opens up about his bromance with fellow coach on The Voice, Adam Levine, and those pesky tabloid rumors and his marriage to Miranda in the Men’s Journal article. It’s now on stands.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

 

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