Laura Lynch, a co-founder of the American country band Dixie Chicks, has died in a car accident near the city of El Paso in the state of Texas.
The band announced the news on the social media platform Instagram, and the police have also confirmed the death.
"We are shocked and saddened to learn of Laura's passing," the band, now called The Chicks, wrote on Instagram.
"Laura was a shining light. Her infectious energy and humor brought a spark to the band in its early days."
Lynch, who co-founded Dixie Chicks in 1989 in Dallas with musicians Robin Lynn Macy and sisters Martie and Emily Erwin, died in a head-on collision on a highway outside El Paso on Friday, according to the American entertainment media TMZ.
65-year-old Lynch was in the driver's seat of her car when another vehicle, traveling in the opposite direction, attempted to overtake a car on a part of the highway with only one lane.
The vehicle collided with Lynch's car, and she was declared dead at the scene. The driver of the other vehicle was taken to a local hospital and is out of danger.
Lynch was the bassist for Dixie Chicks and at one point also the band's lead singer. She left the band in 1995.
The band started as a bluegrass band. Its popular breakthrough came in 1998 with the album "Wide Open Spaces."
Watch Laura Lynch and the Dixie Chicks below
