Loretta Lynn Released from Hospital after Pneumonia Scare : October 24, 2011

Country music legend and coal-miner’s daughter Loretta Lynn canceled two shows over the weekend after being hospitalized with pneumonia. Today, her website reports she [...]

The Return of Lilith Fair Continues to Grow with Talent : January 21, 2010

Cat Power, Heart, Loretta Lynn and Norah Jones are among the artists who have committed for the Lilith Fair tour this year. The itinerary continues to expand. Other a [...]

loretta lynn Biography

Loretta Lynn is a groundbreaker in the realm of country music. Born Loretta Webb on April 14, 1935, Loretta Lynn is one of –if not the first – female country singer who not only penned her own songs, but also wrote songs from a feminist point of view, resulting to some of her earlier works being banned from the airwaves.

“The coal miner’s daughter”, as many in the industry calls her, for she actually is, started her music career at the age of 24. A self-taught guitarist, Lynn broke out in the scene with her husband, the late Oliver ‘Doolittle’ Lynn as her manager, who was nine years her senior and whom she married when she was barely 13 years old. Their turbulent but steadfast marriage, which has been the subject of many of Lynn’s songs, was tackled in great detail in the Academy Award winning autobiographical film, ‘The Coal Miner’s Daughter’ (1980), based on Lynn’s 1976 autobiographical novel of the same title.

A native of Kentucky, Lynn jumpstarted her career singing in honky tonk clubs in the south. She gained massive popularity in Nashville through her first ever single, 1960s ‘I’m a Honky Tonk Girl’. The hit single paved the way for a record deal with Decca Records, a deal which lasted 12 years and spawned 15 top ten records for Lynn in the Billboard Top Country Albums charts from 1963 to 1972. Her first number one record, ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough’, was released in 1966, which was immediately followed by another chart topper, 1967’s ‘Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)’, her first gold certified record which sold more than 500,000 units, making her the first female country artist to do so.

Lynn has always been known to speak her mind about current events and her personal life through her songs. The single ‘Dear Uncle Sam’ (from ‘I Like ‘em Country’, 1966) was one of her trademark songs because it hit close to the hearts of wives all over the country whose husbands were drafted for the Vietnam War. The 1966 single ‘You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)’ was reportedly based on a real woman whom Lynn suspected of seducing her husband at the time. She also gained both fame and notoriety for changing the landscape of country music from being a largely conservative genre to a more outspoken musical medium that voices the various grievances women have had in the ‘60s and ‘70s, which till this day, continues to be relevant, controversial and substantial. Songs like ‘Rated X’, which topped the charts in 1972 and talks about the unfair realities and consequences women face post-divorce; ‘Wings Upon Your Horns’ (1969), which touches on the subject of early loss of virginity; and ‘The Pill’ (1975) which tackles the then-sensitive issue of contraception spurred controversy for the singer at the peak of her popularity, as such, these songs never received radio airplay at the time.

In a span of more than five decades, her country sound, initially bearing wholesome lyrics characteristic of the genre which then gradually changed to mature themes motivated by political and social issues, have evolved into gospel music, resulting to three gospel albums released between 1965 and 1972, but she still went back to her country roots in the years that have followed. To date, Lynn has released 54 studio albums – six of which had dominated the Country Albums charts - under five different record labels. Her most recent studio album to date is 2004’s ‘Van Lear Rose’ under Interscope Records, which peaked at no.2 at the Country Albums charts and at no.24 at the Billboard 200. The album, which took its name from the Van Lear coal mines where Lynn grew up, features an experimental fusion of Lynn’s trademark country sound and her personally inspired lyrics, and Jack White’s (of The White Stripes) rock rhythms. A compilation album entitled ‘Icon’ marks the singer/songwriter’s most recent release, which hit stands in March 2011 under MCA Nashville. She also has sixteen no.1 singles to her name.

A multi-awarded musician and dubbed as the ‘First Lady of Country Music’, Lynn is a pioneer in various award categories and citations. She is the first female recipient of the Country Music Association’s ‘Entertainer of the Year’ award in 1972 and also the first female country artist to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1977. She has been inducted into countless Halls of Fame such as the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008 and many more, outnumbering any female artist of any music genre. Her 50th year in the business didn’t go unnoticed as both the Grammy Awards and the CMAs honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award and commemorative rose named after her, respectively, in 2010.

Lynn is also a philanthropist who, for the last 30 years, has lent out her ranch in Hurricane Mills, TN for the annual Loretta Lynn Amateur Motocross National Championship. Dubbed as ‘The 7th Largest Attraction in Tennessee’, the ranch, which features several houses bound by a vast plantation, is a tourist spot in the southern state.