Biography and Wiki
Loretta Lynn was born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, to a coal mining family. Her early life was marked by hardship and poverty, which she later reflected in her music. She began her music career at a young age, eventually becoming one of the most celebrated figures in country music. Her autobiography, "Coal Miner's Daughter," was adapted into a successful film, cementing her status as a cultural icon.
| Occupation | Country Singer |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 14 April 1932 |
| Age | 93 Years |
| Birth Place | Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Aries |
| Country | U.S |
| Date of death | 4 October, 2022 |
| Died Place | Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, U.S. |
Height, Weight & Measurements
While specific details about Loretta Lynn's height and weight are not widely documented, her stature as a country music legend is undeniable. Her height was reportedly around 5 feet 3 inches, but this information may vary depending on the source.
Lynn received many awards and other accolades for her groundbreaking role in country music, including awards from both the Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music (ACM) as a duet partner and an individual artist. She was nominated 18 times for a Grammy Award and won three times. As of 2022, Lynn was the most awarded female country recording artist and the only female ACM Artist of the Decade (the 1970s). Lynn scored 24 No. 1 hit singles and 11 number-one albums. She ended 57 years of touring on the road after she suffered a stroke in 2017 and broke her hip in 2018.
In May 2017, Lynn had a stroke at her home in Hurricane Mills. She was taken to a Nashville hospital and as a result had to cancel all of her upcoming tour dates. The release of her album Wouldn't It Be Great was delayed until 2018. On January 1, 2018, Lynn fell and broke her hip.
| Height | 5 feet 3 inches |
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Dating & Relationship Status
Loretta Lynn married Oliver Lynn when she was just 15 years old. The couple remained together until his death in 1996. Despite facing numerous challenges, their marriage endured for over 48 years.
She was the oldest daughter and second child born to Clara Marie "Clary" (née Ramey; May 5, 1912 – November 24, 1981) and Melvin Theodore "Ted" Webb (June 6, 1906 – February 22, 1959). Ted was a coal miner and subsistence farmer. The family claims Cherokee heritage on Lynn's mother's side, but have not been officially recognized by that tribe. She was named after the film star Loretta Young. The other Webb children were:
Loretta's father Ted died at the age of 52 from a stroke four years after relocating with her mother and younger siblings to Wabash, Indiana. He had also been battling black lung disease at the time of his death.
Lynn's relationship with the Wilburn Brothers and her appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, beginning in 1960, helped Lynn become the No. 1 female recording artist in country music. Her contract with the Wilburn Brothers gave them the publishing rights to her material. She unsuccessfully fought the Wilburn Brothers for 30 years to regain the publishing rights to her songs after ending her business relationship with them. Lynn stopped writing music in the 1970s because of the contracts. Lynn joined the Grand Ole Opry on September 25, 1962.
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, Doolittle "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.
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.
On January 10, 1948, 15-year-old Loretta Webb married 21-year-old Oliver Vanetta Lynn Jr. (August 27, 1926 – August 22, 1996), better known as "Doolittle", "Doo", or "Mooney". They had met only a month earlier. The Lynns left Kentucky and moved to the northwest Washington state logging community of Custer when Lynn was seven months pregnant with the first of their six children. The happiness and heartache of her early years of marriage would help to inspire Lynn's songwriting. They were married for almost 50 years until his death in 1996 at age 69. 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. Lynn stated she and her husband fought frequently, but that "he never hit me one time that I didn't hit him back twice." Loretta said that her marriage was "one of the hardest love stories". In one of her autobiographies, she recalled: 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.
Loretta and her husband had six children together. Second child and eldest son Jack Benny Lynn, born December 7, 1949, was found dead by drowning on July 24, 1984, after going missing while horse riding on his mother's Hurricane Mills ranch. Their third and fourth children are Ernest Ray Lynn, born May 27, 1951, and Clara Marie "Cissie" Lynn, born less than a year later on April 7, 1952. Their youngest children, twin daughters Peggy Jean and Patsy Eileen, were born on August 6, 1964; they are named after Lynn's sister, Peggy Sue Wright, and her friend, Patsy Cline. Patsy's daughter and Loretta's granddaughter, Emmy Russell, auditioned for season 22 of American Idol, making the cut and earning the golden ticket to Hollywood. She tied for fourth place alongside Triston Harper, one week before the Finale.
The centerpiece of the ranch is its large plantation home which Lynn once resided in with her husband and children. She had not lived in the antebellum mansion in more than 30 years prior to her death. Lynn regularly greeted fans who were touring the house. A replica of the cabin in which Lynn grew up in Butcher Hollow is one of its main features.
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", 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 her live performances during the Iraq War.
Lynn died in her sleep at her home in Hurricane Mills on October 4, 2022, at the age of 90. No cause of death was immediately given. She was buried three days later on her Hurricane Mills ranch beside her husband Doolittle.
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| Husband | Oliver Lynn (m. 1948-1996) |
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Net Worth and Salary
Loretta Lynn's net worth at the time of her death in 2022 was estimated to be around $65 million. This wealth was accumulated from her successful music career, which included record sales, concert tours, and songwriting royalties. Her music legacy continues to generate income even after her passing.
Career, Business, and Investments
Loretta Lynn's career spanned decades, with numerous hit songs like "Coal Miner's Daughter" and "Don't Come Home A'Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)". She was a trailblazer for women in country music, winning numerous awards, including multiple Grammy Awards. Her business ventures included real estate investments, with properties in Tennessee that she managed over the years.
Loretta Lynn (Webb; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill", "Blue Kentucky Girl", "Love Is the Foundation", "You're Lookin' at Country", "You Ain't Woman Enough", "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl", "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)", "One's on the Way", "Fist City", and "Coal Miner's Daughter". The 1980 musical film Coal Miner's Daughter was based on her life.
Lynn began singing in local clubs in the late 1950s. She later formed her own band, the Trailblazers which included her brother Jay Lee Webb. Lynn won a wristwatch in a televised talent contest in Tacoma, Washington, hosted by Buck Owens. Lynn's performance was seen by Canadian Norm Burley of Zero Records, who co-founded the record company after hearing Loretta sing.
The Lynns 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 Country and Western chart, and Lynn began cutting demo records for the Wilburn Brothers Publishing Company. Through the Wilburns, she secured a contract with Decca Records. 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 released her first Decca single, "Success", in 1962, and it went straight to No. 6, beginning a string of top 10 singles that would run throughout the 1970s. Lynn's music 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. 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.
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."
Social Network
Although Loretta Lynn passed away in 2022, her legacy remains strong on social media platforms. Her music and legacy are celebrated by fans worldwide, with her official social media accounts still active and managed by her estate or family members.
Lynn credited Patsy Cline as her mentor and best friend during her early years in music. In 2010, when interviewed for Jimmy McDonough's biography of Tammy Wynette, Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen, Lynn said of having best friends in Patsy and Tammy during different times: "Best friends are like husbands. You only need one at a time."
Lynn's next album, Fist City, was released in 1968. The title track became Lynn's third 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, including 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 fourth chart-topper, followed by a subsequent Top 10, "To Make a Man (Feel Like a Man)". Her 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 autobiographical hit "Coal Miner's Daughter", which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart in 1970. 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. In 1978, she became a special guest star on The Muppet Show. The song "Coal Miner's Daughter" later served as the impetus for her bestselling autobiography (1976) and the Oscar-winning biopic, both of which share the song's title.
Lynn returned to the public eye in 1993 with a hit album, the trio album Honky Tonk Angels, recorded with Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette. The album 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 seven-week series on the Nashville Network (TNN), Loretta Lynn & Friends.
Late in 2010, Sony Music released a new compilation album, Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn, featuring stars like Reba McEntire, Faith Hill, Paramore, and Carrie Underwood performing Lynn's classic hits spanning 50 years. The album produced a Top 10 hit music video on Great American Country of the single "Coal Miner's Daughter", featuring Lynn, Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow. The track cracked the Billboard singles chart, making Lynn the only female country artist to chart in six decades. Lynn's concerts during this period included performances at the Nelsonville Music Festival in Nelsonville, Ohio, in May 2010, and 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 also contributed "Take Your Gun and Go, John" to Divided & United: Songs of the Civil War, released on November 5, 2013.
Although Lynn was outspoken about her views on controversial social and political subjects, she saw herself as apolitical, writing in her 1976 autobiography that, "I don't like to talk too much about things where you're going to get one side or the other unhappy....My music has no politics."
Education
Loretta Lynn had limited formal education due to her early marriage and family responsibilities. However, she learned much from her experiences and the world around her, which she expressed through her music.
In summary, Loretta Lynn's impact on country music is immeasurable, and her net worth reflects her dedication and success in the industry. Her legacy continues to inspire fans and artists alike, ensuring her memory remains vibrant in the world of music.
While a recognized "advocate for ordinary women", Lynn often criticized upper-class feminism for ignoring the needs and concerns of working-class women. She rejected being labeled a feminist, and wrote in her memoir, "I'm not a big fan of women's liberation, but maybe it will help women stand up for the respect they're due."
