Joyce "Dottie" Rambo, an influential gospel singer and songwriter, died early Sunday when her tour bus ran off the highway and struck an embankment, according to the Associated Press (AP). She was 74.

Seven other people on the bus were injured in the wreck, which occurred about two miles east of Mount Vernon on Interstate 74, the Missouri Highway Patrol said. It was unclear whether the crash was related to the severe storms and tornadoes that hit the region on Saturday. According to her Web site, Rambo was on her way to a Mother's Day performance in Texas.

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

Rambo was a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Her song "We Shall Behold Him" won the Gospel Music Association Song of the Year in 1982.

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