Jelly Roll granted a terminally ill fan’s “dying wish” over the holiday season, meeting with Columbia, Tennessee native Sharon Brown, who is a huge fan of the country star. The meeting was facilitated by Brown’s daughter, Melissa, who opened up to News Channel 5 in Nashville about her mother’s story.
“She had an aneurysm which caused early on-set dementia,” Melissa said of Sharon. “She also has renal failure, and she has chosen not to do dialysis. It’s a lot. It’s a lot for her.”
Singer Grants Terminally Ill Grandma’s “Dying Wish“
Sharon has deeply connected to Jelly Roll and his music, as the singer often discusses overcoming struggles in his life and infuses his art with his own stories of challenges and messages of inspiration. Sharon told News Channel 5 that people don’t usually expect her to be such a big fan of the singer/songwriter, joking, “I think they’re shocked because of my age and my white hair.”
She’s such a big fan that she convinced Melissa and granddaughter Naveah to get matching bad apple tattoos with her inspired by Jelly Roll, and even made a pilgrimage to the church the “Halfway To Hell” singer grew up attending. The singer is from Antioch, Tennessee, not too far from Columbia, so Melissa drove her mom to the church to see it. The church inspired and is featured on the cover of Jelly Roll’s latest album, Whitsitt Chapel.
Fan Enjoyed A Bucket List Encounter With Jelly Roll
Ahead of the Christmas holiday, Jelly Roll hosted a toy drive in the Middle Tennessee area and held a special concert to kick off the drive. Melissa attended and was able to tell a crew member her mother’s story
“I explained her situation and said her dying wish, her number one on her bucket list, was to meet Jelly Roll,” Melissa said.
With the help of the crew member, Sharon was able to meet Jelly Roll backstage at a show. “He gave me so many hugs,” Sharon recalled of the meeting. “He made me feel like I was so special [and] he told me I only looked 50!”
“It was just an incredible experience to do that with my mom,” Melissa shared. “It will be a day to remember for the rest of our lives.”
Read more about the touching story, HERE.
The Hitmaker Recently Hosted The Biggest Toy Drive In Nashville History
Jelly Roll’s passion for helping others is evident in everything he does, including his toy drive, which he hoped would be the biggest in Nashville’s history. During an episode of Theo Von’s podcast, This Past Weekend, the genre-bending superstar shared that the idea for the drive came from his teenage daughter, Bailee Ann.
“My daughter wanted to do this,” Jelly Roll, whose real name is Jason DeFord, explained. “She was doing this at nine years old.” Becoming emotional, the country star continued, “I look back at it, and when I got out of jail… I came home [in] December 2009. I didn’t have any money for toys. And the halfway house, the Men of Valor, did a toy drive for the guys that just came home.”
The musician recalled dropping off a truck “of toys I couldn’t afford” for his daughter’s Christmas. “I didn’t even get to meet her at that time,” he added. “By court, I wasn’t even allowed to see her. I had just gotten home.”
“So her heart, to want to do this toy drive, and then me to be able to be in a situation to amplify it is like, it’s really cool,” he said.
Additionally, In October of 2023, Jelly Roll performed at the Walmart grand re-opening in Franklin, Tennessee, where the campaign collected a kick-off donation of $25,000 worth of toys in partnership with Coca-Cola and Hasbro. Coca-Cola and Hasbro have since pledged to donate an additional $25,00, and Jelly Roll told Von that he planned to put “a couple hundred grand up myself” and the campaign planned to donate over 100,000 toys.
