It's been 25 years since Blake Shelton lost his older brother, but the star says he is "still my hero."

The singer and coach of The Voice posted a touching tribute to his brother, Richie, on Twitter Friday morning (Nov. 13), marking the 25th anniversary of his death. "He's still my hero going strong," he wrote, adding, "Wish everyone could've known him."

Shelton is the youngest of three children of divorced parents, and he has spoken of how much he idolized his older brother. Richie died tragically in a car accident in 1990, when Shelton was just 14 years old, and Shelton's father gave him some very difficult advice afterward.

“He said, ‘Look, you will never, ever get over this happening,'” the "Gonna" singer recalls to 60 Minutes. “‘You’re just gonna have to learn to get used to it.’ He was absolutely right.”

Richie's death was the inspiration for "Over You," which Shelton co-wrote with his now ex-wife, Miranda Lambert. The couple were watching Shelton's episode of Backstory on GAC-TV, and seeing his father talking about his brother's death inspired the song on the spot. Some of the lines came straight out of real life, including the part about getting his brother's record collection.

“That’s one of the things I got when my brother was killed,” he shares. “The family gave me all his albums and things like that. I just listened to them over and over again to feel like he was there.”

The resulting song was so personal that Shelton didn't feel like he could sing it every night, but he and Lambert took home Song of the Year honors at both the CMA Awards and ACM Awards for her recording of the song, which appeared on her Four the Record album in 2011.

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