Brandon Blackstock‘s death will resonate beyond Kelly Clarkson, her children and their once-shared families.

The 48-year-old played an integral role in the lives of several country superstars.

• Brandon Blackstock died on Thursday (Aug. 7) after a 3-year cancer battle.
• He was the father of Clarkson’s two kids, River and Remington, as well as two children from a previous marriage.
• His father is Narvel Blackstock, Reba McEntire‘s ex-husband.

In fact, he was backstage working the very day he met Clarkson in 2006.

Brandon Blackstock’s Country Music History

People recalled Clarkson detailing her first introduction to her future husband at the 2006 ACM Awards. She sang “What Hurts the Most” with Rascal Flatts that day. The country trio’s manager at the time was Blackstock.

The next year, Clarkson and McEntire would partner for a cover of the then-pop singer’s hit ‘Because of You.” There was certainly a Blackstock or two working behind the scenes for that moment.

Brandon Blackstock’s most well-known client was Blake Shelton, however.

A couple of years before their divorce, Clarkson told Marie Claire that it took seeing what Brandon did for Blake to convince her to let him manage her career.

While the professional and personal union added acrimoniously, she did thrive for a number of years prior to 2020. Blackstock was even an executive producer for the Kelly Clarkson Show in the beginning.

Carly Pearce is another artist whom Brandon Blackstock worked with through Starstruck Entertainment.

Kelly Clarkson, Brandon Blackstock Relationship Timeline

When Clarkson and Blackstock met in 2006, he was still married to Melissa Ashworth. Still, the pop star recalled a strong feeling that they’d end up together.

Several years later they began to date, eventually marrying in 2013. The next June they’d welcome River Rose Blackstock. In April 2016, Remington Alexander Blackstock was born.

Everything seemed to be going well in 2019.

“I have children, and how one makes children is generally what I do before bed — that’s not a lie,” Clarkson gushed to The Voice winner Brynn Cartelli that year.

Soon after the pandemic began, the marriage started to fall apart. Clarkson filed for divorce in June 2020, citing irreconcilable differences.

Over the next two years, their legal battles over alimony, housing and money owed to her would be front page entertainment news.