Loretta Lynn, Legendary Entertainer And Country Music Hall Of Fame Member, Passes Away At 90

Loretta Lynn, Legendary Entertainer And
Country Music Hall Of Fame Member, Passes Away At 90 

Loretta Lynn, the real-life coal miner’s daughter turned singer-songwriter whose authenticity, toughness and larger-than-life story inspired generations of female musicians and raised the turmoil, troubles and universal themes of everyday life to an art form, passed away today, Oct. 4. She was 90.

Lynn broke into the Nashville music scene with the help of The Wilburn Brothers and landed a remarkable 76 titles on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart over half a century from 1960 through 2010, when she appeared for the last time with a remake of her 1970 hit “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” re-recorded with Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow as part of the album Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn. The performance was nominated for Musical Event of the Year at “The 45^th Annual CMA Awards.” Sixteen of those chart entries went to No. 1, including six collaborations with her friend and frequent duet partner Conway Twitty, and 51 of her singles cracked the top 10.

Throughout her remarkable career, Lynn received eight CMA Awards in addition to being honored with CMA’s Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. Lynn became the first woman to receive the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year in 1972. She was the first recipient of the CMA Award for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1967 and went on to win that award twice more (1972, 1973). She and frequent duet partner Conway Twitty won the CMA Award for Vocal Duo of the Year for four consecutive years from 1972 to 1975. Lynn was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.

Lynn won three Grammy Awards, beginning with her first in 1971 for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for “After The Fire Is Gone,” with Twitty. Her unlikely friendship and collaboration with rocker Jack White, who produced her Van Lear Rose album, earned both stars two Grammys in 2004 for Best Country Album and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for “Portland, Oregon.” She was also honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. Lynn was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.

Lynn was already well known with a string of tough-as-nails hits and an enviable place in the pantheon of Country Music greats by the 1976 release of her autobiography, “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” The subsequent 1980 film starred Sissy Spacek, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Lynn. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” chronicled Lynn’s humble childhood in Butcher Holler, KY and teenage marriage to Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn.

The story was already familiar to fans through Lynn’s honest and often autobiographical songwriting, reinforced by her plainspoken and accessible singing style. With songs like “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind),” “Your Squaw Is on the Warpath,” “Rated ‘X’,” “Fist City,” “The Pill” and “One’s On the Way,” she tackled taboo subjects, often with humor, and spoke a courageous truth for her female fans unaccustomed to hearing their own perspective represented on the radio in that era. In 1973, Newsweek put Lynn on its cover next to a headline touting “The Country Music Craze.”

In addition to “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Lynn also authored the follow-up, “Still Woman Enough: A Memoir” in 2002, as well as “You’re Cookin’ It Country: My Favorite Recipes and Memories” in 2004, and “Honky Tonk Girl: My Life In Lyrics” in 2012.

Lynn continued to tour well into her 80s, even after suffering a May 2017 stroke at her Hurricane Mills, TN home and museum. She postponed the planned release of her studio album, Wouldn’t It Be Great, until 2018 because of the stroke’s impact on recording, to be comprised entirely of new and reimagined tracks written or co-written by Lynn. Like her 2016 album Full Circle, she recorded it at a Tennessee cabin once owned by Johnny Cash, and enlisted Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, and her own daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell, to produce. Wouldn’t It Be Great was released Sept. 28, 2018 and peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. Lynn celebrated her 87th birthday in April of 2019 with a star-studded concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, with special performances by Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, George Strait, Tanya Tucker, Keith Urban and many more.