Loretta was born in Butcher Holler, Kentucky, the second of eight children. Her sisters, Peggy Sue and Crystal Gayle, are also professional country singers. Listen to one of Peggy Sue’s songs here, and one of Crystal Gayle’s here.Photo of: Kentucky country music legend Loretta Lynn is seen during a perfomance. By C. Thomas Hardin, The Courier-Journal. 1970 1970 Loretta Lynn Cth4 By C. Thomas Hardin
Country music icon Loretta Lynn has died at the age of 90.
Dubbed the First Lady of Country Music, the singer/songwriter’s family announced her death on Tuesday, October 4, in a statement to The Associated Press, saying she died that morning in her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. A cause of death was not shared. Lynn had previously suffered a stroke in May 2017 that ended her touring career.
In her memory, here are 10 facts you may not have known about the country icon.
By C. Thomas Hardin
Loretta’s husband Oliver Lynn bought the country singer her first guitar from Sears & Roebuck when she was 18-years-old. Photo of: Kentucky country music legend Loretta Lynn is seen during a perfomance. By C. Thomas Hardin, The Courier-Journal. 1970 1970 Loretta Lynn Cth3
Freeman Ramsey / The Tennessean
Loretta Lynn really was a coal-miner’s daughter. As a family with eight children, times were hard. Her mother, Clary Webb would glue pages of the Sears catalogue to the walls because the family couldn’t afford wallpaper.Photo of: Crystal Gayle, left, George Jones, Loretta Lynn and Naomi Judd get together during opening ceremonies for the grand opening of the new Loretta Lynn’s Coal Miner’s Daughter Museum in Hurricane Mills, Tenn., May 26, 2001.
By C. Thomas HardinBy C. Thomas Hardin
Loretta’s mother was a big fan of American actress Loretta Young who starred in The Farmer’s Daughter (1947) and Come to the Stable (1949).Photo of: Kentucky country music legend Loretta Lynn is seen on her tour bus before a perfomance. By C. Thomas Hardin, The Courier-Journal. 1970 1970 Loretta Lynn Cth2
Robert Johnson / The Tennessean
In contrast to her humble upbringing, Loretta’s Tennessee ranch, known as Hurricane Mills, is expansive. So expansive, that it even has its own zip code and post office. Hurricane Mills features six museums (including one dedicated to dolls), an RV campground, and a concert venue. The property has hosted the annual AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship since 1982.Photo of: Country music star Loretta Lynn, center, helps Rep. Richard Fulton, left, fit in a cowboy hat as State Sen. Jerry Agee looks on as Lynn opens her third western wear store in Davison County April 25, 1970. Lynn signed autographs and showed customers western wear and saddlery in the new store at 435 Donelson Pike.
Kats Barry / The Tennessean
President Obama awarded Loretta the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013, acknowledging her legacy of “courageously breaking barriers in an industry long dominated by men.”Photo of: Loretta Lynn, right, greets the latest in a long line of fans, many of whom waited hours and hours to meet her at the Fan Fair get-together at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds June 11, 1991.
Dan Loftin / The Tennessean
In 1979, the Academy of Country Music chose Lynn as the artist of the decade for the 1970s. To this day, she remains the only women to have held the title. Photo of: Many of Loretta Lynn’s fans got a head start on the week’s Fan Fair activities at a special catfish fry at the star’s home in Hurricane Mills, Tenn. Lynn, center, signed autographs for nearly four hours June 4, 1978. Fan Fair In 1978
Frank Empson / The Tennessean
For years, Lynn claimed she was only 13 when she married her husband, she even wrote about it in her book Coal Miner’s Daughter. In 2012 when journalists from the Associated Press found Lynn’s real birth certificate, however, they discovered that Loretta had lied…she was actually 16 when she tied the knot.Photo of: Loretta Lynn, center, arrives at Belle Meade Theater in the drizzling rain for the movie premiere of “Coal Miner’s Daughter” with her mother, Clara Butcher, left, and her husband, Mooney Lynn, March 4, 1980. 800304 D
Jack Corn / The Tennessean
In a 2016 PBS documentary on Loretta Lynn, McEntire admits that she sings “If You’re Not Gone Too Long” as a warm-up every night before hitting the stage. Photo of: Loretta Lynn takes a break from practicing at a home in Madison Jan. 31, 1962, for a biscuit that she made.
Frank Empson / The Tennessean
Lynn wanted one actress and one actress only: Sissy Spacek. Spacek wasn’t keen, and neither were the producers, so Lynn came up with an ingenious plan to help her get her way. The country singer sneakily “leaked” the news that Spacek would be playing her in the movie. When word got out, everyone’s hands were tied, leading the producers to cast Lynn’s first choice.Photo of: Mooney Lynn, left, is with his wife, Loretta Lynn, in the cabin of the country singer’s tour bus parked at the Opry House on March 1, 1980. They are awaiting the upcoming premiere in a couple of days of “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” the movie version of Loretta Lynn’s autobiography. 800301 D
