Yearwood celebrated the age milestone in September (14) and she wanted to honour her mum, who died in 2011, with a special tune.

However, she was unaware her husband had planned an emotional surprise for her as she headed to the studio to record the song I Remember You.

She says, "In the last 10 years, I've lost both my parents and my mum, my sister and I took care of her in her last months and it was a really emotional time and this is really a tribute to her. It's a sad song about loss, but it's also a hopeful song to me about them being with you all the time.

"For my birthday... I was working on this record and my husband knew how important it was to me. He flew my sister in from Georgia to Nashville without me knowing. He put her vocals on the record, my sister sings in a choir, she's very shy... and he had her sing on the record and flew her back to Georgia. I'm listening to the mix and I'm going, 'I know that voice, I know that's my sister, but that can't be, how is that my sister?' He had done that for me as a birthday gift, so talk about a surprise."