Jim Ed Brown’s Memorial Service Draws Stars and Fans to Celebrate Extraordinary Life

Family, friends, country stars and fans paid their final respects to country music legend Jim Ed Brown at his public memorial, held Monday (June 15) at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium.

Artists including Brenda Lee, the Oak Ridge Boys, Crystal Gayle, Craig Morgan, the Gatlin Brothers, Vince Gill and Lady Antebellum performed and paid tribute to Brown during the service.

"Other beloved voices from our country music family have already joyfully raised their voices to welcome him home into the presence of God," Lee said, adding that Brown told her he had a vision of Jesus in his hospital room when she visited him prior to his death.

Lady A closed the service with a performance of their early single with Jim Brickman, "Never Alone."

Brown was scheduled to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame later this year, but according to Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern, the Grand Ole Opry member received his medallion during a special ceremony at the hospital a couple weeks ago. The group that gathered with him that day -- which included Bill Anderson, who had asked to induct the Browns during this year's ceremony -- sang "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," and 81-year-old Brown reportedly smiled through the entire song.

Brown passed away on Thursday (June 11), after a lengthy battle with lung cancer.

“If there’s anything I can say to my fans at all — I’ve got a stack of get well cards at least a foot high here. It’s terrible whenever you have to get sick to find out who all your friends are!” Brown told The Boot. “I’ve got an awful lot of prayer warriors out there, and I know that God has got to be listening to them because He sure is helping me get through this, and if there was any way that I could thank them all, golly, I would, but I don’t know how to do that. Just let them know that I still love them.”

Country Stars Who Died in 2014