Rick Busby stepped on the Southern Gospel stage in 1986 with the Florida Boys and then joined Heaven Bound, thrilling audiences with his beautiful tenor voice. After leaving Heaven Bound, Rick traveled and sang with his wife Cyndi until 2010. Rick and Cyndi have been married 21 years and are still deeply in love, even though life has been rough.

Rick is now the Minister of Music at the Second Baptist Church in Thomson, Georgia. He recently took a few moments to share his love story with SGM Radio.

“I grew up in Arkansas and went to college there too.  It just so happens that the late Roger Bennett of the Cathedrals and Legacy Five and Jerry Kelso of the Dixie Melody Boys, Stamps Quartet, were college buddies with me at a small school in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas.

“I met and married a young lady in December of 1981, that I thought was surely the love of my life.  We had a precious little boy together.  While pastoring a church in Arkansas, she revealed that she was having an affair and then she left me and took our son with her.  I later moved to Nashville, Tennessee after my divorce and worked for Benson Record Company.  While there I filled in for Danny Funderburk of the Cathedrals one night and soon after that became the tenor for the Florida Boys.  After being with the Florida Boys for almost three years, I joined Heaven Bound out of Kinston, North Carolina.

“Life was good for me as far as being able to sing professionally and travel across the country, but I was never able to see my little boy.  My ex-wife tried everything she could to keep me from having any contact with him.  To this day, I still have no idea why she was that way.  Occasionally though, when I was with Heaven Bound, I would get the opportunity to have my son for a week or two at a time. He loved being with his daddy and riding down the road on the Big Bus with the guys.

“I very seldom ever dated anyone.  I don’t think it was because I was still holding out hope for my ex-wife and I getting back together, I just believe that it was hard to date because of the kind of life I had.  One night while singing in concert with Carroll Roberson, he and I had the opportunity to sit and talk for a little while that night.  He said, ‘Rick, I haven’t told very many people this, but I have been through the same thing that you have.  My wife left me and God sent me a beautiful lady to spend the rest of my life with.  Rick, God has laid upon my heart that He has someone very special for you. It is already ordained and you will meet her in the next few weeks.’

“As you can imagine, I was speechless!  I said, ‘Brother Carroll, I appreciate it so much.  I really haven’t been looking.’  He said, ‘It doesn’t matter.  There is a reason that God has someone for you.  When you meet her, you will know it. You will not have to question it.’  I said, ‘Okay!’

“I don’t think that I even told the guys on the bus.  I decided to keep it to myself.  If Carroll was right and God had someone special for me, then I was just going to be still and wait upon Him!

“It must have been a couple of weeks later.  We were singing in Augusta, Georgia on a Thursday evening.  We were at a wonderful Church and it was packed.  I remember standing on stage beside Jeff Gibson, our baritone singer. He said to me, ‘Hey Buzz (that is what all my close friends in gospel music called me), do you see that girl about seven rows back on your right side, with the little blond headed boy standing beside her?’  I said, ‘Yeah!  What about her?’  He asked me, ‘What do you think?’  ‘About what?’ He said, ‘About her, you big dummy!’  I replied, ‘She’s beautiful!  Why are you asking me this question, Jeff?’

“He said, ‘Buzz, she is single and not dating anyone, as far as I know.’  ‘Really?  So I guess she too has gone through a divorce like me.’ He said, ‘No she is a widow.  Her husband was a police officer and was killed in the line of duty a couple or three years ago.’  At that point I told Jeff that I was not interested because I did not want to be known as a gospel singer that chases after rich widows.  He told me I was crazy and that I should at least meet her.

“After the concert, the guys told me that we were going to someone’s house to eat.  We rarely did this because we were on the go so much.  Guess whose house we went to?  You got it!  We went to the so-called-rich-widow’s house! Actually Cyndi wasn’t rich, but she had a nice home.

“We had a wonderful meal at Cyndi’s home.  I didn’t talk to Cyndi very much. I later found out that she was painfully shy.  I did however hit it off big with her 5-year-old son Brandon. He was something else.  He reminded me of my son, Jonathan.  He fell in love with me and the next thing I know is, he was taking me to his room to show me his stuff.  Cyndi later told me that she could not believe that because he had never allowed any man to go into his room other than his daddy.

“Before we left Cyndi’s home that night, I went to her and thanked her for such a delicious meal.  I also told her how much I enjoyed being with Brandon.  I asked if I might come and spend some time playing with Brandon sometime in the future.  She said, ‘Of course!’

“Within two weeks we were on the phone every night with each other and began to date long distance. We fell in love and I met the girl of my dreams. We married on January 17, 1990, and in August of 1993, I left Heaven Bound when I found out that my son Jonathan was coming to live with us.  We moved to Nashville, Tennessee where we started our own business.  I adopted Brandon in 1991, with the blessing of his father’s family.

“My son Jonathan came to love his new mother very much and considered her as his Mama.  We tragically lost Jonathan on April 29, 2010.  He loved the Lord with all of his heart and he loved his family.  My wife Cyndi has been a wonderful mother to my boys, my best friend and truly the love of my life.”

Our thanks to Rick for sharing his love story with SGM Radio! You can find Rick on Facebook at facebook.com/rick.busby1 .

All photos courtesy of Rick Busby.