The renowned singer and composer Loretta Lynn has passed away. Her rise from a small coal mining hamlet in Kentucky to national success in country music was the stuff of Hollywood legend. She was 90.
In a statement from The Associated Press, Lynn’s family announced that she passed away on Tuesday at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. She experienced a stroke in May 2017 that ended her travelling career.
The 1980 film Coal Miner’s Daughter, directed by Michael Apted and based on Lynn’s 1976 autobiography, gave an unforgettable account of her life. For her portrayal of the singer, who has been a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame since 1988, Sissy Spacek received the best actress Oscar and a Golden Globe. Younger sister Crystal Gayle, a fellow country music singer, is among the survivors.
Beyond the dramatic details of her life, Lynn was one of the first female singing stars in music, recording 16 No. 1 country singles and winning three Grammy Awards.
When males dominated the nation, she rose to become one of the industry’s brightest luminaries. She wrote a lot of her best-selling material, which was sharply written from the perspective of a woman (often a married woman) who would not put up with anything from her man. She also did not back away from contentious issues.
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On April 14, 1932, Loretta Webb was born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky. She claimed in her memoirs that she “always makes Butcher Hollow seem like it’s the most primitive region of the United States — and I suppose maybe it is.
She was the second-oldest of the eight kids raised by coal miner Melvin Webb in sometimes-severe poverty during the height of the Great Depression. The radio was one of her few distractions; at age 11, Loretta fell in love with the Grand Ole Opry and its first female star, Molly O’Day.
She married Oliver Lynn, also known as “Doolittle” and “Mooney,” at age 15. The couple relocated from Kentucky to Custer, Washington, a small hamlet close to Bellingham, a year later. By the age of 18, Lynn had four kids.
Lynn started singing in Washington clubs after being encouraged by her husband. Don Grashey of the little Zero Records set up a session for her in Los Angeles in 1950. She recorded her song “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl,” which was somewhat influenced by Kitty Wells’ 1952 hit “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonky Angels,” backed by renowned guitarists Speedy West and Roy Lanham.
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