Loretta Lynn

Loretta Lynn Headshot

Singer • Songwriter

Birth Date: April 14, 1932

Death Date: October 4, 2022

Birth Place: Butcher Hollow, Van Lear, Kentucky

Grandchildren: Emmy Russell

Loretta Lynn was a country-music icon and one of the few from country's '60s heyday to still be making hits in the late 2010s. As one of her signature songs says, she was a "coal miner's daughter" born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky; she had seven siblings including Crystal Gayle, also a future country star. After her family moved to northern Washington, she got a guitar and played clubs with her first band, Loretta & the Trailblazers. During a California stay in February 1960 she cut her first single, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl." Released on the tiny Zero label, it wasn't a hit initially but showed its importance over time. It was an early example of the "Bakersfield sound"-- country with a string backbeat, steel guitar and stripped-down production. And its lyrics told a gritty real-life story, a trademark of Lynn's hits to come. She came to Nashville soon after and joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1962. Famed producer Owen Bradley oversaw that year's single, "Success," the first of many Top Ten hits. Though Lynn didn't write the latter, she did write most of the hits that followed. She addressed the Vietnam War on "Dear Uncle Sam" but her preferred territory was sexual politics. "Fist City," "Rated X" and "Don't Come Home a-Drinkin' (With Loving on Your Mind)" all showed her to be one of the most outspoken women of the time; and while she was occasionally banned on country radio, the songs were all successful. The songs also reflected the turmoil in her marriage to her manager, Oliver "Doolittle" Lynn, yet they remained married until his death in 1996. The '70s began with the success of "Coal Miner's Daughter" and brought two wildly different takes on motherhood, "One's on the Way" and "The Pill." With the 1980 release of the biographical movie "Coal Miner's Daughter," Lynn was fully established as a legend; Sissy Spacek won the Oscar for portraying her. Though the hits leveled off somewhat she continued making albums-- including numerous duets with Conway Twitty and a high-profile trio album with Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, 1993's "Honky Tonk Angels." She won numerous awards including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy and in 2013 was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama. She also had a late-career surprise hit with 2004's Van Lear Rose, produced by rock star Jack White who emulated the sound and spirit of her earliest records. She waited another dozen years to record again, this time with a trio of albums produced by her daughter Patsy Lynn Russell and John Carter Cash. 2016's "Full Circle" included duets with Elvis Costello (who had previously covered both "Success" and "Honky Tonk Girl") and Willie Nelson. 2018 brought "Wouldn't It Be Great" combining new original songs with remakes of tunes from different points in her career. The album's release was delayed due to health issues; in late 2018 she was recovering from a stroke and a broken hip. Loretta Lynn died on October 4, 2022 in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, at the age of 90.

Credits

Country: Home For The Holidays

Music Performer
Show
2022

Loretta Lynn

Music Performer
Show
2021

Country Legends

Music Performer
Show
2021

Country: Home For the Holidays

Music Performer
Show
2021

Country Christmas

Music Performer
Show
2021

Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter (Recitation)

Music Performer
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2020

Loretta Lynn: Better Move It On Home

Music Performer
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2020

Cozy Country Christmas

Music Performer
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2020

Loretta Lynn: Ain't No Time to Go

Music Performer
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2018

Queens of Country

Music Performer
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2017

Loretta Lynn: Lay Me Down

Music Performer
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2016

Loretta Lynn: Country Christmas

Music Performer
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2016

ACL Presents: Americana Music Festival 2014

Music Performer
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2014

Sinatra and FriendsStream

Actor
Special
2014

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy FallonStream

Music Performer
Talk
2014

CBS This Morning: Saturday

Music Performer
Show
2012

Girls' Night Out: Superstar Women of Country

Music Performer
Show
2011

In the Spotlight With Robin Roberts: Bright Lights. Big Stars. All Access Nashville

Guest
Show
2009

Watch What Happens Live With Andy CohenStream

Guest
Talk
2009

Ghost AdventuresStream

Self
Reality
2008

How Great Thou Art

Actor
Show
2008

Johnny Cash's America

Actor
Movie
2008

Loretta Lynn's Haunted Plantation

Host
Show
2003

Arena

Guest
Show
2001

Loretta Lynn: Will the Circle Be Unbroken

Music Performer
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1999

Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child

Voice
Show
1995

Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story

Self
Movie
1995

Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton & Tammy Wynette: Silver Threads and Golden Needles

Music Performer
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1993

Grand Ole Opry in Houston: The Economic Summit

Music Performer
Show
1991

RoseanneStream

Guest Star
Herself
Series
1988
76%

Loretta Lynn in the Big Apple

Host
Show
1982

The Dukes of HazzardStream

Guest Star
Herself
Series
1979

Fantasy Island

Guest Star
Series
1978

Hee Haw

Guest
Variety Show
1969

Hee Haw

Host
Variety Show
1969

Hee Haw

Music Performer
Variety Show
1969

The Johnny Cash Show

Music Performer
Show
1969

Nashville Rebel

Self
Movie
1966

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonStream

Guest
Talk
1962

Today

Guest
News
1952

Today

Music Performer
News
1952

News aboutLoretta Lynn