The wait for Keith Whitley fans is over, the eastern Kentucky native has been named to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Whitley, who was born in Ashland, Kentucky, and raised in Elliott County, was recently named as a hall of fame member-elect in the 2022 class alongside Jerry Lee Lewis and Joe Galante.

Despite only releasing two studio albums and an EP before his untimely death, Whitley recorded a dozen top 20 solo country singles, including five consecutive No.1 hits.

Among his classics are “Miami, My Amy,” I’m Over You” and “When You Say Nothing At All.”

The eastern Kentucky native, whose name is also adorned on the U.S. 23 Country Music Highway sign, is credited with helping define the genre’s new traditionalist resurgence of the late 1980s, the hall of fame said.

Whitley died in 1989 at the age of 34 due to accidental alcohol poisoning.