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MOUNT VERNON, Mo. - Gospel singer and songwriter Joyce ("Dottie) Rambo has been killed in a traffic accident in Missouri.

Police said the 74-year-old entertainer's tour bus went off the highway early Sunday and struck an embankment.

Seven other people on the bus were injured in the wreck, which occurred about three kilometres east of Mount Vernon on Interstate 44.

They have been admitted to hospital with moderate to severe injuries.

The Missouri Highway Patrol says it is unclear whether the crash was related to severe storms and tornadoes that hit the region Saturday.

Rambo's website says the Nashville, Tenn., resident had been on her way to a Mother's Day performance in Texas.

"She was a giant in the gospel music industry," said Beckie Simmons, Rambo's agent. "Dolly Parton recorded some of her songs."

Rambo was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame last year and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

Rambo has had more than 2,500 published songs, including gospel classics such as "He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need" and the 1982 Gospel Music Association Song of the Year, "We Shall Behold Him."