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Loretta Lynn                                                   14.4.1932-4.10.2022


Loretta Lynn (née Webb; born April 14, 1932, died October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer-songwriter with multiple gold albums in a career spanning almost 60 years. She is famous for hits such as "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)", "Don't Come Home A' Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)", "One's on the Way", "Fist City", and "Coal Miner's Daughter" along with the 1980 biographical film of the same name.

Lynn has received numerous awards and other accolades for her groundbreaking role in country music, including awards from both the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music as a duet partner and an individual artist. She is the most awarded female country recording artist and the only female ACM Artist of the Decade (1970s). Lynn, has sold more than 45 million albums worldwide, scored 24 number one hit singles, and 11 number one albums. Lynn continues to tour, appear at the Grand Ole Opry and release new albums. 


 

Press Reports

The Countra Daily | by jwills  |  October 4, 2022

Country Music Icon Loretta Lynn Passes at Age 90

The world of country music mourns the passing of a legend – Loretta Lynn.

The country superstar passed peacefully, at the age of 90, in her sleep early this morning, Tuesday, October 4, at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

 

Over the course of her 60-year career, the famous native of

Butcher Hollow, Ky. amassed a staggering 51 Top 10 hits, garnered every accolade available in music from GRAMMY awards to induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and broke down barriers for women everywhere with songs like “Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind),” “Fist City” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”


Thanks to the Oscar-winning 1980 film Coal Miner’s Daughter starring Sissy Spacek, Lynn’s story and songs were brought to an even wider audience, amplifying her impact on several generations of songwriters and artists in various genres including Jack White, with whom Lynn made the GRAMMY-winning 2004 album Van Lear Rose.

Throughout her 80s, Loretta continued to write new songs and, in 2016, returned to the charts with the GRAMMY-nominated Full Circle, the first in a series of critically acclaimed albums produced by her daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell, and John Carter Cash at Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tenn. She followed up with the seasonal classic White Christmas Blue (2016) and 2018’s GRAMMY-nominated Wouldn’t It Be Great, a combination of newly written songs and fresh interpretations of her catalog.

In 2021, the American music icon released Still Woman Enough, a celebration of women in country music; her 50th studio album (not including her ten studio duet collaborations with Conway Twitty), Still Woman Enough featured a title track co-written with Patsy Lynn Russell and a deeply emotional “Coal Miner’s Daughter Recitation,” commemorating the 50th anniversary of the release of Lynn’s signature song (October 5, 1970) and album (January 4, 1971).

Lynn’s music and achievements were repeatedly recognized by all of the major awards bodies. She joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1962, won four GRAMMY awards, seven American Music Awards and eight Country Music Association awards. She was the first woman to win the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music awards for Entertainer of the Year. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008, and was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 2003 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. She sold over 45 million albums worldwide.

Lynn was pre-deceased by her husband of 48 years Oliver Vanetta “Doolittle” Lynn, her daughter Betty Sue Lynn and son Jack Benny Lynn. She is survived by her daughters Patsy Lynn Russell, Peggy Lynn, Clara (Cissie) Marie Lynn and her son Ernest Ray Lynn as well as grandchildren Lori Lynn Smith, Ethan Lyell, Elizabeth Braun, Tayla Lynn, Jack Lynn, Ernest Ray Lynn Jr., Katherine Condya, Alexandria Lynn, Jasyntha Connelly, Megan Horkins, Anthony Brutto, Jason Lynn, Wesley Lynn, Levi Lynn, Emmy Rose Russell, David Russell, Lucca Marchetti and step grandchildren David Greer, Jennafer Russell, Melody Russell and Natalie Rapp, and her greatgrandchildren. In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to be made to the Loretta Lynn Foundation. Information about a memorial service/celebration of life will be made available at a later date.

The family has asked for privacy during this time, as they grieve. An announcement regarding a memorial will be forthcoming in a public announcement. For more information, visit LorettaLynn.com.


The Country Daily | by Jim Casey | @TheJimCasey  |  October 20, 2020

Bronze Statue of Loretta Lynn Unveiled at Ryman Auditorium

A bronze statue of Loretta Lynn was unveiled outside Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Oct. 20.

Loretta’s statue joins two others - Bill Monroe and Little Jimmy Dickens - as part on the Ryman’s Icon Walk, which recognizes legends who have paved the way for Nashville performers. The statues of Bill Monroe and Little Jimmy Dickens were added in 2017 as part of the Ryman’s 125th anniversary. The statues, which were sculpted by artist Ben Watts, each took one year to create.

 

“I will never forget the morning Dolittle and I pulled in and parked in front of the Ryman Auditorium for the very first time,” said Loretta in a press release. 


 “It was 1960 and I had a No. 14 record on the charts called ‘I’m A Honky Tonk Girl.’ My dream, like thousands of other singers, was just to sing on the Grand Ole Opry. Being a member of the Grand Ole Opry has been one of the greatest honors of my life. For many years I’ve stood on the stage of the Ryman and there’s no place like it. Now they’re unveiling this statue in my honor. It’s like I’m going to get to be there for many more years to come. It means so much to have the statue and to be a part of all of these wonderful artists. One day soon I’m gonna get to come up there and see it for myself. But for today I want to say thank you and I love each and every one of you for thinking of me.” Visitors can find Loretta’s statue at the northwest corner of the building near the venue’s driveway on Fifth Avenue.

Loretta celebrated her 88th birthday in April. With more than 50 years of recording and touring to her name, she has become one of the most decorated artists of all time, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as receiving the CMA Entertainer of the Year Award, Kennedy Center Honors, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and more.


Nash Country Daily | by Jim Casey | @TheJimCasey  |  April 16, 2020

Loretta Lynn Releases Animated New Video for Cover of Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces” 

Loretta Lynn released an animated video for her new cover of Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces.”

Created by director Aaron Ray, the video celebrates Loretta and Patsy’s friendship and features custom illustrations and animations.

Written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard, “I Fall to Pieces” was Patsy’s first No. 1 hit on the country charts in 1961.

 

Before her death in a plane crash in 1963, Patsy was an established star who took up-and-comer Loretta under her wing to help her navigate the male-dominated world of country music.

“Friendship can help us during difficult times, like what we are all going through now,” says Loretta.


 “I wanted to share this song and video in honor of Patsy. She was my friend, mentor, my strength and I miss her to this day.”

Loretta’s new recording was released in celebration of her new book, Me & Patsy Kickin’ Up Dust (April 7), which was penned by Loretta and daughter Patsy Lynn Russell. According to a press release, the book is an “up-close-andpersonal portrait of a friendship that defined a generation and changed country music indelibly–and a meditation on love, loss and legacy.” Watch Loretta’s new video above.


Nash Country Daily | by Jim Casey | @TheJimCasey  |  June 20, 2017

Loretta Lynn Announces First Appearance Since Suffering a Stroke in May

There’s good news coming out of Loretta Lynn’s camp.

 

Almost seven weeks after Loretta suffered a stroke at her Tennessee home in Hurricane Mills, her first public appearance has been announced.

 

Loretta will host - and perform during - the Tennessee Motorcycle and Music Revival, a four-day event held at Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. (about 60 miles west of Nashville). The Motorcycles and Music Revival will celebrate music, motorcycles, food, art, entertainment and Southern hospitality as 4,500 on-site campers enjoy 400 acres. This year’s event will take place from Sept. 28–Oct. 1.

 

Loretta’s granddaughter, Tayla Lynn, posted a video on Instagram announcing the event and shared that “Memaw is gonna come down there and sing for ya.”



Nash Country Daily | by Jim Casey | @TheJimCasey  |  May 5, 2017

Loretta Lynn Suffers Stroke, Remains Under Medical Care

According to a Friday afternoon (May 5) message on Loretta Lynn’s website, the Country Music Hall of Fame member suffered a stroke on May 4 at her Tennessee home.

 

The post stated:

 

American country music legend Loretta Lynn was admitted into a hospital in Nashville last night after she suffered a stroke at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

 

She is currently under medical care and is responsive and expected to make a full recovery.

 

Loretta, who just celebrated her 85th birthday, has been advised by her doctors to stay off the road while she is recuperating. Regrettably, upcoming scheduled shows will be postponed.


Loretta’s sister, Crystal Gayle, posted a message on Twitter, thanking fans for their prayers and support.

«Many of you have heard that my sister, Loretta Lynn, had a stroke. Our family appreciates all your love, prayers and support. We hope for a speedy recovery!»

 

❤️ Love you all, Crystal

 

Loretta is scheduled to release a new album, Wouldn’t It Be Great, on Aug. 18. All of the tunes on the new 10-song offering were penned or co-penned by Loretta. Like the album’s predecessor, the Grammy-nominated Full Circle (March 2016), Wouldn’t It Be Great was mainly recorded at the Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tenn., with producers Patsy Lynn Russell and John Carter Cash. The album features new songs “Ruby’s Stool,” “Ain’t No Time to Go” and “I’m Dying for Someone to Live For” alongside newly recorded renditions of past compositions such as “God Makes No Mistakes,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind).” “I think you try to do better with every record you put out,” Loretta said in a press release in April. “It’s just everyday living—and everybody wants to know, ‘Well, what is it about your songs that people like?’ I think you’ve got to tell your stories. I just think it hits everybody, you know, the songs.” 


Nash Country Daily | by Jim Casey | @TheJimCasey  |  April 14, 2017

In Honor of Loretta Lynn’s 85th Birthday, We’ve Got 8.5 of Her Best Songs

That Prove She’s the Baddest Woman in Country Music History

 

Few country music artists can claim a career spanning 50-plus years, but golden gal Loretta Lynn sure can. Since releasing her debut album, Loretta Lynn Sings, in 1963, the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” has been hard at work for more than a half-century doing what she loves: making music.

Loretta’s songs about the domestic hardships of women and cheating partners cemented her status as one of country music’s greatest singer/songwriters of all time, paving the way for future forward-thinking, button-pushing females like Patty Loveless, Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves and others.

To commemorate Loretta’s 85th birthday today (April 14), we’re honoring her with 8.5 of her best songs (because we’d need a bigger staff for 85).

1. The first single Loretta ever released, 1960’s “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl,” made it all the way to No. 14 on the country charts. At the time, she was signed to Zero Records out of Vancouver, British Columbia.

 

 

 

4. In 1967, Loretta landed her first No. 1 song, and one of the most enduring of her career: “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind).” It was reportedly inspired by her husband’s struggles with alcoholism.

7. The last Top 10 hit that Loretta enjoyed was in 1982, with the song “I Lie.”

 

 

 

2. As much as she sang about her hardscrabble upbringing, Loretta was also unafraid to stick it to interloping women in hilarious, fierce tunes like “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)” and “Fist City.”

 

 

5. Loretta reached the top of the charts in 1970 with her autobiographical single, “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” The 1980 film of the same name, which was based on Loretta’s autobiography, earned Sissy Spacek an Academy Award for Best Actress.

8. Van Lear Rose, Loretta’s Grammy-winning 2004 album, was produced by Jack White of revered rock bands The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather. The album’s title track recalls her father’s stories about her mother and “how her beauty ran deep down to her soul.”

3. Loretta’s 1975 “The Pill,” which was written by Lorene Allen, Don McHan and T.D. Bayless, was so controversial for its subject matter of birth control that many radio stations banned it and kept it from hitting No. 1 on the country charts. It went on to become the highest charting pop single of Loretta’s career.

6. Songs like “Rated X,” which eviscerated the double standard around divorce for men and women, made Loretta a revered figure among feminists.

 

 

8.5. Loretta’s professional partnership with Conway Twitty resulted in five No. 1 hits between 1971 and 1975, including the Grammy-winning “After the Fire Is Gone.”



 

Background information From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Early years

Lynn was born Loretta Webb on April 14, 1932 in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky.

She is the eldest daughter and second child born to Clara Marie "Clary" (née Ramey; 1912-1981) and Melvin Theodore "Ted" Webb (1906-1959).

Ted was a coal miner and subsistence farmer. The other Webb children:

 

●Melvin "Junior" Webb (December 4, 1929-July 1, 1993)

●Herman Webb (September 3, 1934-July 28, 2018)

●Willie "Jay" Lee Webb (February 12, 1937-July 31, 1996)

●Donald Ray Webb (April 2, 1941-October 13, 2017)

●Peggy Sue Wright (née Webb; born March 25, 1943)

●Betty Ruth Hopkins (née Webb; born 1946)

●Crystal Gayle (born Brenda Gail Webb; January 9, 1951)

 

Loretta's father died at age of 52 of black lung disease a few years after he relocated to Wabash, Indiana with wife Clary and his younger children.

 

Through her matriline, Lynn is a cousin to country singer Patty Loveless (née Ramey), and also to Venus Ramey, Miss America of 1944.

Path to stardom

In January 1948, 15-year-old Loretta married Oliver "Doolittle" Lynn (1926-1996). Their life together inspired the music she wrote.

 

In 1953 Doolittle bought her a $17 Harmony guitar. She taught herself to play. Over the following three years she worked to improve her guitar playing and with Doolittle's encouragement started her own band, Loretta and the Trailblazers, with her brother Jay Lee playing lead guitar. She often appeared at Bill's Tavern in Blaine, Washington, and the Delta Grange Hall in Custer, Washington, with the Pen Brothers' band and the Westerneers. She cut her first record, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl", in February 1960.

 

She became a part of the country music scene in Nashville in the 1960s. In 1967 she had the first of 16 number-one hits (out of 70 charted songs as a solo artist and a duet partner). Her later hits include "Don't Come Home A' Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)", "You Ain't Woman Enough", "Fist City", and "Coal Miner's Daughter".

Lynn focused on blue-collar women's issues with themes about philandering husbands and persistent mistresses, inspired by issues she faced in her marriage. She pushed boundaries in the conservative genre of country music by singing about birth control ("The Pill"), repeated childbirth ("One's on the Way"), double standards for men and women ("Rated 'X'"), and being widowed by the draft during the Vietnam War ("Dear Uncle Sam").

 

Country music radio stations often refused to play her music, banning nine of her songs, but Lynn pushed on to become one of country music's legendary artists. She and contemporaries like Tammy Wynette provided a template for female artists in country music to follow.

 

Her best-selling 1976 autobiography, "Coal Miner's Daughter", was made into an Academy Award-winning film of the same title in 1980, starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones. Her album "Van Lear Rose", released in 2004, was produced by the alternative rock musician Jack White; Lynn and White (image below) were nominated for five Grammys and won two.

Lynn has received numerous awards in country and American music.

She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983, the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008, and she was honored in 2010 at the Country Music Awards. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2013.

 

Lynn has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since joining on September 25, 1962. Her debut appearance on the Grand Ole Opry was on October 15, 1960. Lynn has recorded 70 albums, including 54 studio albums, 15 compilation albums, and one tribute album.

Music career

1960-1966: Early country success

Lynn began singing in local clubs in the late 1950s with help, insistence, and support from her husband. She later formed her own band, the Trailblazers, which included her brother Jay Lee Webb. Lynn won a televised talent contest in Tacoma, Washington, hosted by Buck Owens, for which the prize was a wristwatch that broke 24 hours later. (Lynn later laughed about it with Owens.) Lynn's performance was seen by Canadian Norm Burley of Zero Records, who co-founded the record company after hearing Loretta sing.

 

Zero Records president, Canadian Don Grashey, arranged a recording session in Hollywood, where four of Lynn's own compositions were recorded: "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl", "Whispering Sea", "Heartache Meet Mister Blues", and "New Rainbow". Her first release featured "Whispering Sea" and "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl". She signed her first contract on February 2, 1960, with Zero; the material was recorded at United Western Recorders in Hollywood, engineered by Don Blake and produced by Grashey. Musicians backing on the songs were "the great" steel guitar player Speedy West, Harold Hensely on fiddle, Roy Lanham on guitar, Al Williams on bass, and Muddy Berry on drums. She commented on the different sound of her first record: "Well, there is a West Coast sound that is definitely not the same as the Nashville sound ... It was a shuffle with a West Coast beat". 

The Lynns then toured the country to promote the release to country stations, while Grashey and Del Roy took the music to KFOX in Long Beach, California. When the Lynns reached Nashville, the song was a hit, climbing to No. 14 on Billboard's C & W Chart, and Lynn began cutting demo records for the Wilburn Brothers Publishing Company. Through the Wilburns, she secured a contract with Decca Records. From the onset of her career, fans took notice and rallied behind her all the way, with the first Loretta Lynn Fan Club formed in November 1960. By the end of the year, Billboard magazine listed Lynn as the No. 4 Most Promising Country Female Artist.

Lynn's relationship with the Wilburn Brothers and her appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, beginning in 1960, helped Lynn become the number one female recording artist in country music. Her contract with the Wilburn Brothers gave them the publishing rights to her material. She was still fighting to regain these rights 30 years after ending her business relationship with them but was ultimately denied the publishing rights. Lynn stopped writing music in the 1970s because of these contracts. Although Kitty Wells had become the first major female country vocalist during the 1950s, by the time Lynn recorded her first record, only three other women - Patsy Cline, Skeeter Davis, and Jean Shepard - had become top stars. Lynn joined The Grand Ole Opry on September 25, 1962.

 

By the end of 1962 it was clear that she was on her way to becoming the fourth. Lynn has credited Cline as her mentor and best friend during those early years. In 2010, when interviewed for Jimmy McDonough's biography of Tammy Wynette, Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen, Loretta mentioned having best friends in Patsy and Tammy during different times: "Best friends are like husbands. You only need one at a time."

Lynn released her first Decca single, "Success," in 1962, and it went straight to #6, beginning a string of Top 10 singles that would run through the rest of the decade and throughout the next. She was a hard honky-tonk singer for the first half of the 1960s and rarely strayed from the genre.

 

During this time, Lynn soon began to regularly hit the Top 10 after 1964 with songs such as "Before I'm Over You", which peaked at No. 4, followed by "Wine, Women and Song," which peaked at No. 3. In late 1964, she recorded a duet album with Ernest Tubb. Their lead single, "Mr. and Mrs. Used to Be", peaked within the Top 15. Together, the pair recorded two more albums, "Singin' Again" (1967) and "If we Put Our Heads Together" (1969). In 1965, her solo career continued with three major hits, "Happy Birthday", "Blue Kentucky Girl" (later recorded and made a Top 10 hit in the 1970s by Emmylou Harris), and "The Home You're Tearing Down". Lynn's label issued two albums that year, "Songs from My Heart" and "Blue Kentucky Girl". While most were Top 10 Country hits, none reached #1.

 

Lynn's first self-penned song to crack the Top Ten, 1966's "Dear Uncle Sam", was among the very first recordings to recount the human costs of the Vietnam War. In the latter half of the decade, although she still worked within the confines of honky tonk, her sound became more personal, varied, and ambitious, particularly lyrically. Beginning with 1966's Number 1 hit in Cash Box, "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)", Lynn began writing songs with a feminist viewpoint, which was unheard of in country music. This song made Lynn the first country female recording artist to pen a No. 1 hit.

1967-1980: Breakthrough success

In 1967 Lynn reached No. 1 with "Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)". "Don't Come Home A Drinkin" went to No. 1 and became one of the first albums by a female country artist to reach sales of 500,000 copies.

 

Lynn's next album, "Fist City", was released in 1968. The title track became Lynn's second No. 1 hit, as a single earlier that year, and the other single from the album, "What Kind of a Girl (Do You Think I Am)", peaked within the Top 10. In 1968, her next studio album, "Your Squaw Is on the Warpath", spawned two Top 5 Country hits: the title track and "You've Just Stepped In (From Stepping Out on Me)". In 1969, her next single, "Woman of the World (Leave My World Alone)", was Lynn's third chart topper, followed by a subsequent Top 10, "To Make a Man (Feel Like a Man)". She was reportedly once inspired to write a song about a real woman she suspected was flirting with her husband. The song, "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)", was an instant hit and became one of Lynn's all-time most popular. Her career continued to be successful into the 1970s, especially following the success of her hit "Coal Miner's Daughter", which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart in 1970, and the album has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. "Coal Miner's Daughter" tells the story of Lynn's life growing up in rural Butcher Hollow, Kentucky. The song became her first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 83. She had a series of singles that charted low on the Hot 100 between 1970 and 1975. The song "Coal Miner's Daughter" later served as the impetus for the best-selling autobiography (1976) and the Oscar-winning biopic, both of which share the song's title.

In 1973 Rated "X" peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and was considered one of Lynn's most controversial hits. The following year, her next single, "Love Is the Foundation", also became a No. 1 country hit from her album of the same name. The second and last single from that album, "Hey Loretta", became a Top 5 hit.

 

Lynn continued to reach the Top 10 until the end of the decade, including 1975's "The Pill", considered to be the first song to discuss birth control, other than the 1967 French-language song in French, Pilule d'Or, sung by Luc Dominique. As a songwriter, Lynn felt no topic was off limits, as long as it spoke to other women, and many of her songs were autobiographical. In 1976, she released her autobiography, "Coal Miner's Daughter", with the help of writer George Vecsey. It became a #1 bestseller, making Lynn the first country music artist to make The New York Times Best Seller list. 

Professional partnership with Conway Twitty

In 1971, Lynn began a professional partnership with Conway Twitty. As a duo, Lynn and Twitty had five consecutive No. 1 hits between 1971 and 1975, including "After the Fire Is Gone" (1971), which won them a Grammy award, "Lead Me On" (1971), "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (1973), "As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone" (1974), and "Feelins'" (1974).

 

For four consecutive years, 1972-1975, Lynn and Twitty were named the "Vocal Duo of the Year" by the Country Music Association.

The Academy of Country Music named them the "Best Vocal Duet" in 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1976. The American Music awards selected them as the "Favorite Country Duo" in 1975, 1976 and 1977.

 

The fan-voted Music City News readers voted them the No.  1 duet every year between 1971 and 1981, inclusive. In addition to their five No. 1 singles, they had seven other Top 10 hits between 1976 and 1981.

As a solo artist, Lynn continued her success in 1971, achieving her fifth No. 1 solo hit, "One's on the Way", written by poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein. She also charted with "I Wanna Be Free", "You're Lookin' at Country" and 1972's "Here I Am Again", all released on separate albums.

 

The next year, she became the first country star on the cover of Newsweek. In 1972, Lynn was the first woman to be nominated and win Entertainer of the Year at the CMA awards. She won the Female Vocalist of the Year and Duo of the Year with Conway Twitty, beating out George Jones and Tammy Wynette and Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton.

Tribute album for Patsy Cline

In 1977, Lynn recorded I Remember Patsy, an album dedicated to her friend, singer Patsy Cline, who died in a plane crash in 1963. The album covered some of Cline's biggest hits. The two singles Lynn released from the album, "She's Got You" and "Why Can't He Be You", became hits. "She's Got You", which went to No. 1 by Cline in 1962 went to No. 1 again that year by Lynn. "Why Can't He Be You" peaked at No. 7. Lynn had her last No. 1 hit in 1978 with "Out of My Head and Back in My Bed".

 

In 1979, Lynn had two Top 5 hits, "I Can't Feel You Anymore" and "I've Got a Picture of Us on My Mind", from separate albums. Devoted to her fans, Lynn told the editor of Salisbury, Maryland’s newspaper the reason she signed hundreds of autographs "These people are my fans... I'll stay here until the very last one wants my autograph. Without these people, I am nobody. I love these people." In 1979, she became the spokesperson for Procter & Gamble's Crisco Oil. Because of her dominant hold on the 1970s, Lynn was named the "Artist of the Decade" by the Academy of Country Music. She is the only woman to win this honor.

1980-1989: Continued success

On March 5, 1980, the film Coal Miner's Daughter debuted in Nashville and soon became the No. 1 box office hit in the United States. The film starred Sissy Spacek as Loretta and Tommy Lee Jones as her husband, Dolittle “Mooney” Lynn. The film received seven Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Actress Oscar for Spacek, a gold album for the soundtrack album, a Grammy nomination for Spacek, Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music awards, and several Golden Globe awards. The 1980s featured more hits, including "Pregnant Again", "Naked in the Rain", and "Somebody Led Me Away".Lynn’s last Top 10 record as a soloist was 1982’s "I Lie", but her releases continued to chart until the end of the decade.

 

One of her last solo releases was "Heart Don't Do This to Me" (1985), which reached No. 19, her last Top 20 hit. Her 1985 album Just a Woman spawned a Top 40 hit. In 1987, Lynn lent her voice to a song on k.d. lang's album Shadowland with country stars Kitty Wells and Brenda Lee, "Honky Tonk Angels Medley". The album was certified gold and was Grammy nominated for the four women. Lynn's 1988 album Who Was That Stranger would be her last solo album for a major record company as a solo artist. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.

1990-2004: Return to country: «Honky Tonk Angels», «Still Country» and second autobiography

Lynn returned to the public eye in 1993 with a hit CD, the trio album Honky Tonk Angels, recorded with Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette. The CD peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Country charts and No. 42 on the Billboard Pop charts and charted a single with "Silver Threads and Golden Needles". The album sold more than 800,000 copies and was certified gold in the United States and Canada. The trio was nominated for Grammy and Country Music Association awards. Lynn released a three-CD boxed set chronicling her career on MCA Records. In 1995, she taped a sevenweek series on the Nashville Network (TNN), Loretta Lynn & Friends.

 

In 1995, Loretta was presented with the Pioneer Award at the 30th Academy of Country Music Awards. In 1996, Lynn's husband, Oliver Vanetta "Doolittle" Lynn, died five days short of his 70th birthday.

In 2000, Lynn released her first album in several years, Still Country, in which she included "I Can't Hear the Music", a tribute song to her late husband. She released her first new single in more than 10 years from the album, "Country in My Genes." The single charted on the Billboard Country singles chart and made Lynn the first woman in country music to chart singles in five decades.

In 2002, Lynn published her second autobiography, Still Woman Enough, and it became her second New York Times Best Seller, peaking in the top 10. In 2004, she published a cookbook, You're Cookin' It Country. 

2004-present: Late career resurgence

In 2004 Lynn made a comeback with the highly successful album "Van Lear Rose", the second album on which Lynn either wrote or co-wrote every song. The album was produced by her "friend forever" Jack White of The White Stripes, and featured guitar work and backup vocals by White. Her collaboration with White allowed Lynn to reach new audiences and generations, even garnering high praise in magazines that specialize in mainstream and alternative rock music, such as Spin and Blender. Rolling Stone voted the album the second best of 2004. It won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album of the Year.

 

Late in 2010 Sony Music released a new album, titled "Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn", featuring stars like Reba McEntire, Faith Hill, Paramore, and Carrie Underwood performing Loretta's classic hits over the past 50 years. The CD produced a Top 10 music video hit on GAC with the lead single, "Coal Miner's Daughter", that Lynn recorded with Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow. The single cracked the Billboard singles chart making Lynn the only female Country artist to chart in six decades. 

Lynn performed at the Nelsonville Music Festival in Nelsonville, Ohio in May 2010. Lynn also performed at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival on June 11, 2011.

In 2012, Lynn published her third autobiography, Honky Tonk Girl: My Life in Lyrics. She contributed "Take Your Gun and Go, John" to Divided & United: Songs of the Civil War, released on November 5, 2013

 

In November 2015, Lynn announced a March 2016 release: Full Circle, featuring Willie Nelson and Elvis Costello. The recording became Lynn's 40th album to make the Top 10 on Billboard's best selling country list and her album debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 200. The recording is combination of new songs and classics, and includes duets with Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson.

Lynn’s Christmas album White Christmas Blue was released in October 2016.[42] In December of the same year, Full Circle was nominated for Country Album of the Year for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.

Lynn’s album Wouldn't It Be Great, the third album of her five-album deal with Legacy Recordings, was released in September 2018 after being delayed by health issues. Her health prompted Lynn to cancel all 2017 scheduled tour dates. Lynn was named Artist of a Lifetime by CMT in 2018.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Loretta Lynn among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

On October 19, 2019, Lifetime aired the highly anticipated movie Patsy & Loretta which highlighted the friendship of Lynn and Patsy Cline. Lynn attended the Nashville release of the film.

Personal life

Children and grandchildren

Loretta and Doolittle “Mooney” Lynn had six children together:

 

•Betty Sue Lynn (November 26, 1948 – July 29, 2013)

•Jack Benny Lynn, (December 7, 1949 – July 22, 1984)

•Clara Marie "Cissie" Lynn (born April 7, 1952)

•Ernest Ray "Ernie" Lynn (born May 27, 1954)

•Peggy Jean and Patsy Eileen Lynn (born August 6, 1964; twin daughters named for Lynn's sister, Peggy Sue Wright, and her friend, Patsy Cline.)

 

Lynn's son, Jack Benny, died at age 34 on July 22, 1984, while trying to ford the Duck River at the family's ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. In 2013, Loretta's daughter, Betty Sue, died at age 64 of emphysema near Loretta's ranch in Hurricane Mills.[49] Two years after her twins Peggy and Patsy were born, Lynn became a grandmother at age 34.

Marital problems

Although the Lynns were married for almost fifty years (Doolittle died on August 22, 1996) and had six children, their marriage was reportedly rocky. In her 2002 autobiography Still Woman Enough and in an interview with CBS News the same year, she recounted how her husband cheated on her regularly and once left her while she was giving birth. She and her husband fought frequently, but she said that "he never hit me one time that I didn't hit him back twice". Loretta has said that her marriage was "one of the hardest love stories". She recalled in one of her autobiographies:

«I married Doo when I wasn't but a child, and he was my life from that day on. But as important as my youth and upbringing was, there's something else that made me stick to Doo. He thought I was something special, more special than anyone else in the world, and never let me forget it. That belief would be hard to shove out the door. Doo was my security, my safety net. And just remember, I'm explainin', not excusin'... Doo was a good man and a hard worker. But he was an alcoholic, and it affected our marriage all the way through.»

Homes

Lynn owns a ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. Billed as "the Seventh Largest Attraction in Tennessee", it features a recording studio, museums, lodging, restaurants and western stores. Traditionally, three holiday concerts are hosted annually at the ranch, Memorial Day Weekend, Fourth of July Weekend, and Labor Day Weekend.

 

 

 

(Lynn's childhood home in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky)

Since 1982, the ranch has hosted Loretta Lynn's Amateur Championship motocross race, the largest amateur motocross race of its kind.

The ranch also hosts GNCC Racing events. The centerpiece of the ranch is its large plantation home which Lynn once resided in with her husband and children. She hasn't lived in the antebellum mansion in more than 30 years. Lynn regularly greets fans who are touring the plantation house. Also featured on the property is a replica of the cabin in which Lynn grew up in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky.

 

In the mid-1970s, Lynn and her husband built a house in Teacapán, Mexico which they owned for a couple of decades.

 

Lynn and her husband also bought a cabin in Canada.

Health issues

In May 2017, Lynn had a stroke at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. She was taken to a Nashville hospital and subsequently had to cancel all of her upcoming tour dates.

 

The release of her new album Wouldn't It Be Great was delayed until 2018. According to her website, she is expected to make a full recovery. On January 1, 2018, Lynn fell and broke her hip.

Politics

At the height of her popularity, some of Lynn's songs were banned from radio airplay, including "Rated 'X'", about the double standards divorced women face; "Wings Upon Your Horns", about the loss of teenage virginity; and "The Pill", with lyrics by T. D. Bayless, about a wife and mother becoming liberated by the birth-control pill. Her song "Dear Uncle Sam", released in 1966, during the Vietnam War, describes a wife's anguish at the loss of a husband to war. It was included in live performances during the Iraq War.

In 1971, Lynn was the first solo female country artist to perform at the White House, at the invitation of President Richard Nixon. She returned there to perform during the administrations of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. Lynn stated early in 2016 that she supported Donald Trump in his run for the presidency

Although Lynn has been outspoken about her views on controversial social and political subjects, she stated, "I don't like to talk about things where you're going to get one side or the other unhappy. My music has no politics." In her autobiography, Lynn said her father was a Republican and her mother a Democrat.

When asked about her position on same-sex marriage by USA Today in November 2010, she replied, "I'm still an old Bible girl. God said you need to be a woman and man, but everybody to their own." She endorsed and campaigned for George H. W. Bush in the presidential election in 1988.

In 2002's Still Woman Enough, she discussed her longtime friendship and support for Jimmy Carter. During the same time period, she made her only recorded political donation, $4,300, to Republican candidates and Republican-aligned PACs.

 

Lynn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama In 2013.

While a recognized "advocate for ordinary women," Lynn has often criticized upper-class feminism for ignoring the needs and concerns of working-class women. She once stated, "I'm not a big fan of women's liberation, but maybe it will help women stand up for the respect they're due".

 

Lynn allowed PETA to use her song "I Wanna Be Free" in a public service campaign to discourage the chaining of dogs outside.

Honors and awards

 

•Lynn has written more than 160 songs and released 60 albums. She has had 10 No. 1 albums and 16 No. 1 singles on the country charts. Lynn has won three Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, eight Broadcast Music Incorporated awards, 13 Academy of Country Music, eight Country Music Association, and 26 fan-voted Music City News awards. Lynn remains the most awarded woman in country music. She was the first woman in country music to receive a certified gold album for 1967's "Don't Come Home A' Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)".

•In 1972, Lynn was the first woman named "Entertainer of the Year" by the Country Music Association. In 1980, she was the only woman to be named "Artist of the Decade" for the 1970s by the Academy of Country Music. Lynn was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988[22] and the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999. She was also the recipient of Kennedy Center Honors an award given by the U.S. president in 2003. Lynn is ranked 65th on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll and was the first female country artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1977. In 1994, she received the country music pioneer award by the Academy of Country Music.

•In 2001, "Coal Miner's Daughter" was named among NPR's "100 Most Significant Songs of the 20th Century". In 2002, Lynn had the highest ranking, No.  3, for any living female, in CMT television's special of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.

•A BMI affiliate for more than 45 years, Lynn was honored as a BMI Icon at the BMI Country Awards on November 4, 2004.

•In March 2007, Lynn was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music during her performance at the Grand Ole Opry.

•Lynn was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City In 2008.

•She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her 50 years in country music in 2010.

•Lynn was honored for 50 years in country music at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010. That same year, Lynn was presented with a rose named in her honor.

•Sony Music released a tribute CD to Lynn titled Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn in November 2010. The CD featured Kid Rock, Reba McEntire, Sheryl Crow, Miranda Lambert, Alan Jackson, Gretchen Wilson, The White Stripes, Martina McBride, Paramore, Steve Earle and Faith Hill. In 2011, Lynn was nominated for an Academy of Country Music, CMT Video and Country Music Association awards for "Vocal Event of the Year" with Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow for "Coal Miner's Daughter," released as a video and single from the CD.

•Lynn marked her 50th anniversary as a Grand Ole Opry member on September 25, 2012.

•Lynn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama In 2013.

•Miranda Lambert presented Lynn with the Crystal Milestone Award from the Academy of Country Music.

•Lynn also received the 2015 Billboard Legacy Award for Women in Music.

•In 2016 she was the subject of an American Masters profile documentary Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl on PBS.

•Lynn was named Artist of a Lifetime in 2018 by CMT.


 

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Wikipedia: This page was last edited on 30 January 2020, at 22:40 (UTC).