Entertainment

Joyce "Dottie" Rambo, an influential gospel singer and songwriter, died when her tour bus ran off the highway and struck an embankment, police said. She was 74.

Seven other people on the bus were injured in the wreck east of Mount Vernon on Interstate 44, the Missouri Highway Patrol said.

They were hospitalised in Springfield with moderate to severe injuries, according to the patrol.

It was unclear whether the crash was related to the severe storms and tornadoes that hit the region on Saturday.

Rambo, of Nashville, Tennessee, was on her way to a Mother's Day performance in Texas, according to her website.

"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."