Brandon Blackstock, Talent Manager and Former Stepson of Reba McEntire, Dies at 48

Brandon Blackstock, a music manager who worked with top country and pop acts and was formerly married to Kelly Clarkson, died on Aug. 7 at 48 after a private, multi-year battle with cancer, his family confirmed.

A Texas native born on Dec. 16, 1976, Mr. Blackstock grew up inside Nashville’s music-business orbit as the son of veteran manager and producer Narvel Blackstock. He later became McEntire’s stepson when she married Narvel in 1989, a blended family the country star has long said she “claims” as her own.

Mr. Blackstock worked at Starstruck Entertainment, the management company founded by his father, and over the years was connected to artists including Blake Shelton and Carly Pearce. He eventually helped manage parts of Clarkson’s career after their 2013 wedding.

He is survived by four children: Savannah and Seth, from his first marriage to Melissa Ashworth, and River Rose and Remington “Remy” Alexander, from his marriage to Clarkson. (His eldest, Savannah, recently announced she is expecting a child.) 

News of his death followed a difficult few years for the former couple. The two separated in 2020 and finalized their divorce in 2022; their post-divorce legal disputes over commissions, rooted in a California labor ruling that he had overstepped a manager’s role, were settled confidentially in 2024.

Clarkson, who postponed Las Vegas dates the week of his passing to be present for their children, had recently grown emotional onstage while introducing “Piece by Piece,” a song whose meaning has shifted alongside her family’s changes.

The specific cancer was not disclosed by the family in initial statements; multiple outlets reported he had fought the disease for more than three years, with some specifying melanoma.

Beyond the headlines, Mr. Blackstock’s legacy is intertwined with two corners of American music, country and pop, where managers often operate out of view. As a second-generation insider who became a partner, spouse, and father inside that ecosystem, his story traced both the opportunities and strains of a family-run business. Those who knew him across Nashville and Los Angeles are now remembering a life lived largely offstage but deeply enmeshed in the work that brings artists to it.