Copter crash kills Country star Gentry

COUNTRY MUSIC singer Troy Gentry died Friday after a helicopter taking him to a concert crashed in southern New Jersey.

“It is with great sadness that we confirm Troy Gentry (above), half of the popular country duo Montgomery Gentry, was tragically killed in a helicopter crash which took place at approximately 1 p.m. today in Medford, N.J.,” the band tweeted Friday afternoon.

The pilot died at the scene after the craft came down in a field short of the Flying W Airport in Medford.

Gentry, 50, was taken from the wreckage and died from his injuries at Virtua Hospital in Marlton, N.J.

Eddie Montgomery, Gentry’s music partner, was not on the helicopter, according to WLEX in Gentry’s hometown of Lexington, Ky.

Witnesses said the helicopter “appeared to be faltering and having difficulty” as it approached the airport to land, Burlington County Prosecutor’s spokesman Joel Bewley told the Daily News.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cause of the crash.

No severe weather was forecast for Medford on Friday.

It was not clear where the helicopter was coming from.

Gentry and Montgomery formed their group in the late 1990s and enjoyed several No. 1 hits, including “Lucky Man” and “Something to Be Proud Of.”

The band, which blends Country and Southern rock, was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2009.

Montgomery Gentry’s concert at the Flying W Airport was canceled about an hour after the crash, before news of Gentry’s death broke.