George Richey, the Nashville songwriter, pianist and record producer, died on 31 July 2010 aged 74 after a long battle with COPD. His work helped shape major country recordings by George Jones, Tammy Wynette and Lynn Anderson, while his later marriage to Wynette led him to concentrate largely on managing her career.

Richey moved to Nashville in the 1950s and worked as a session musician with artists including Marty Robbins, Ringo Starr and Kenny Rogers. His songs included Jones hits “I’ll Share My World with You”, “A Picture of Me (Without You)” and “The Grand Tour”, plus Wynette hits “Til I Can Make It on My Own” and “You and Me”; he also co-wrote their duets “Southern California” and “We Loved It Away”. At his request, his family kept his death private for around three weeks, during which he was buried near Wynette at Woodlawn Memorial Park.