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Best Known For
Loretta Lynn is a singer-songwriter known for "Coal Miner's Daughter," among many other country songs. A film about her by the same name was a critical hit.
Videos see all videos
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Loretta Lynn - Last Gift (1:27)
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Patsy Cline - Crazy (2:23)
Loretta Lynn - Last Gift
Loretta Lynn shares a story of the last gift given to her by Patsy Cline.
Loretta Lynn - Preview
A preview featuring country music legend Loretta Lynn. She invites viewers into her haunted Tennessee estate.
Patsy Cline - Crazy
In 1962, County Music legend Patsy Cline recorded Willie Nelson's song, "Crazy," a song he'd written while driving.
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Play NowLoretta Lynn. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 07:40, May 22, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/loretta-lynn-9389831.
Loretta Lynn. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/loretta-lynn-9389831 [Accessed 22 May 2013].
"Loretta Lynn." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 22 2013, 07:40 http://www.biography.com/people/loretta-lynn-9389831.
"Loretta Lynn," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/loretta-lynn-9389831 [accessed May 22, 2013].
"Loretta Lynn," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/loretta-lynn-9389831 (accessed May 22, 2013).
Loretta Lynn [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 22] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/loretta-lynn-9389831.
Loretta Lynn, http://www.biography.com/people/loretta-lynn-9389831 (last visited May 22, 2013).
Loretta Lynn. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/loretta-lynn-9389831. Accessed May 22, 2013.
Another classic Lynn tune was "Fist City," a lyrical tell-off from one woman to another over her man.
Lynn shared her own personal experiences growing up in "Coal Miner's Daughter," which became a No. 1 country hit in 1970. The song told the story of her childhood, growing up poor but happy. Teaming up with Conway Twitty,
Lynn won her first Grammy Award in 1971 for their duet "After the Fire Is Gone." This song was only one of many successful duets that the pair made; other hits included "Lead Me On" and "Feelin's." These collaborations explored romantic relationships—often adulterous ones. They won the Vocal Duo of the Year award from the Country Music Association for four consecutive years, from 1972 to 1975, for their songs.
Coal Miner's Daughter
On her own, Lynn continued to score hits and even stirred up a bit of controversy. She wrote about the changing times for female sexuality with 1975's "The Pill," which some radio stations refused to play. The following year, Lynn published her first autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter. The book became a best seller, publicly revealing some of the ups and downs in her professional and personal life, especially her stormy relationship with her husband. In 1980, the film version of the book was released, starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta and Tommy Lee Jones as her husband.
Lynn's domination of the country charts began to ebb in the 1980s, as country music moved more toward mainstream pop and away from Lynn's more traditional sound. Still her albums remained popular, and she enjoyed some success as a spokeswoman for a shortening company. In 1982, she had her most notable hit of the decade with "I Lie."
Around this time, Lynn had to grapple with a personal tragedy. Her 34-year-old son, Jack Benny Lynn, drowned after trying to wade across a river on horseback in July 1984. She herself was hospitalized briefly for exhaustion before learning of her son's death.
Lynn was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988. In the 1990s, Lynn scaled down her work to care for her husband, who was suffering from heart trouble and diabetes. She did, however, make time to work with Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette on the 1993 album Honky Tonk Angels. In 1995, she starred in a limited-run television series, Loretta Lynn & Friends, and played a handful of tour dates. Lynn's husband died in 1996.
Recent Work
In 2000, Lynn released her next studio album, Still Country. While it earned strong reviews, the album did not match her earlier successes in terms of sales. Lynn explored other opportunities around this time, penning the 2002 memoir Still Woman Enough. She also struck up an unlikely friendship with Jack White of the alternative rock band the White Stripes. In 2003, Lynn played with the White Stripes in concert, and White ended up producing Lynn's next album, Van Lear Rose (2004).
A commercial and critical smash hit, Van Lear Rose injected new life into Lynn's career. "Jack was a kindred spirit," Lynn explained to Vanity Fair magazine.
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Nashville Sound
View groupThe Nashville Sound developed in the late 1950s, when recording studios and artists replaced some of the traditional elements of honky-tonk music with more contemporary pop music sounds. Producer and musician Chet Atkins was one of the genre's inventors, and is credited with bringing country music to a much wider audience. With his smooth voice, Charley Pride is one of country music's few African-American stars—and the only one to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. Women were also crucial to the popularity of the Nashville sound, with stars like Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynne bringing women's perpectives, as well as glamour, to the genre.
Not only did the Nashville Sound influence the sound of country music, but it also helped to establish Nashville, Tennessee, as the country music capital of the world. Thousands of aspiring artists now flock to the city each year, hoping they might be the next big, musical discovery.
Nashville Sound 6 people in this group
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Influential Female Musicians of the 1960s
View groupAmerican society experienced a revolution in the late 1960s and early 70s, especially for African-Americans and women. Janis Joplin was the finest white blues singer of her generation; female singer-songwriters like Carole King and Joni Mitchell shared their innermost thoughts and feelings; Aretha Franklin emerged as the Queen of Soul; and Bonnie Raitt established herself as both a strong vocalist and a brilliant guitarist. Through their music, the women of this era created the soundtrack of social progress.
Influential Female Musicians of the 1960s 17 people in this group
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Country Legends
View groupWhen it comes to singing about struggle and emotion, there are few genres that match the intensity of country music. Country music was born from musicians that were brave enough to wear their hearts on their sleeves from happiness to heartache. Because of country icons like Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Jimmie Rodgers, this southern, soulful genre has grown to become loved by many. Browse through the legends that established country music as the popular genre that it is today.
Country Legends 18 people in this group
