KNOXVILLE (WVLT) – KNOXVILLE (WVLT) – Gospel music legend Dottie Rambo, 74 was killed early Sunday morning when her tour bus ran off the road in southwest Missouri and struck an embankment.

Rambo played a show Saturday evening in Granite City, Illinois, and was headed to play a Sunday night show in North Richland Hills, Texas when the wreck occurred a couple miles east of Mount Vernon on I-44.

Representatives from her recording label confirmed to WVLT that the Kentucky native was asleep at the time of the accident, and her manager Larry Ferguson was on the bus along with his wife and two children.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said a total of seven people were on the bus and injured in the accident. They were all hospitalized in Springfield with injuries ranging from moderate to severe.

Dottie Rambo was regarded as a legend throughout the musical community. She was born in the western Kentucky coal mining town of Madisonville and began singing when she was 12 years old.

She has published more than 2,500 songs, including “We Shall Behold Him,” “Holy Spirit Though Art Welcome (In the Place),” and “I Go to the Rock.”

She was awarded the 1968 Grammy for Best Soul Gospel Performance for “The Soul of Me.”

In 2006, Former Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher approved Rambo’s induction into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, and she was made a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007.

Upon learning of her death, Dolly Parton issued a release calling Dottie, “a dear friend, fellow singer, songwriter and entertainer, and lately duet singing partner.”

Doug Hutchison, who is the son of current Mulls Singing Convention host Charlotte Mull Hutchison and grandson of Rev. J. Bazzel Mull said Dottie devoted herself to music and the lord.

“She was in Illinois last night and headed to Texas for another concert today,” he said. “It's hard to be sad for Dottie, because we know where she is.”