Loretta Lynn

Biography

Loretta Lynn (née 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 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 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.

Lynn was born Loretta Webb in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, on April 14, 1932. 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 but they are not recognized by or members of a tribe. She was named after the film star Loretta Young. The other Webb children were: Melvin "Junior" Webb (December 4, 1929 – July 2, 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 January 5, 1946); Crystal Gayle (born Brenda Gail Webb; January 9, 1951).

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.