95 Facts About Loretta Lynn

1.

Loretta Lynn was an American country music singer and songwriter.

2.

Loretta 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.

3.

Loretta Lynn was nominated 18 times for a Grammy Award and won three times.

4.

Loretta Lynn scored 24 No 1 hit singles and 11 number-one albums.

5.

Loretta Lynn ended 57 years of touring on the road after she suffered a stroke in 2017 and broke her hip in 2018.

6.

Loretta Lynn was the oldest daughter and second child born to Clara Marie "Clary" and Melvin Theodore "Ted" Webb.

7.

Loretta Lynn was named after the film star Loretta Young.

8.

Loretta Lynn'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.

9.

Loretta Lynn had been battling black lung disease at the time of his death.

10.

The Lynns left Kentucky and moved to the logging community of Custer, Washington, when Loretta was seven months pregnant with the first of their six children.

11.

Loretta Lynn taught herself to play the instrument, and over the following three years, she worked to improve her guitar playing.

12.

Loretta Lynn often appeared at Bill's Tavern in Blaine, Washington, and the Delta Grange Hall in Custer, Washington, with the Pen Brothers' band and the Westerneers.

13.

Loretta Lynn cut her first record, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl", in February 1960.

14.

Loretta Lynn began singing in local clubs in the late 1950s.

15.

Loretta Lynn later formed her own band, the Trailblazers which included her brother Jay Lee Webb.

16.

Loretta Lynn signed her first contract on February 2,1960, with Zero.

17.

Loretta Lynn's album was recorded at United Western Recorders in Hollywood, engineered by Don Blake and produced by Grashey.

18.

Loretta Lynn unsuccessfully fought the Wilburn Brothers for 30 years to regain the publishing rights to her songs after ending her business relationship with them.

19.

Loretta Lynn stopped writing music in the 1970s because of the contracts.

20.

Loretta Lynn joined the Grand Ole Opry on September 25,1962.

21.

Loretta Lynn credited Patsy Cline as her mentor and best friend during her early years in music.

22.

Loretta Lynn released her first Decca single, "Success", in 1962, and it went straight to No 6, beginning a string of top 10 singles that would run throughout the 1970s.

23.

Loretta Lynn's music began to regularly hit the Top 10 after 1964 with songs such as "Before I'm Over You", which peaked at No 4, followed by "Wine, Women and Song", which peaked at No 3.

24.

Loretta Lynn's label issued two albums that year, Songs from My Heart and Blue Kentucky Girl.

25.

Loretta Lynn's first self-penned song to crack the Top 10,1966's "Dear Uncle Sam", was among the first recordings to recount the human costs of the Vietnam War.

26.

Loretta Lynn's 1966 hit "You Ain't Woman Enough " made Lynn the first country female recording artist to write a No 1 hit.

27.

In 1967, Loretta Lynn released the single "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' ", It was her first number one country hit.

28.

Loretta Lynn's song "You Ain't Woman Enough ", was an instant hit and became one of Lynn's all-time most popular.

29.

Loretta Lynn had a series of singles that charted low on the Hot 100 between 1970 and 1975.

30.

The second and last single from that album, "Hey Loretta Lynn", became a Top 5 hit.

31.

Loretta Lynn continued to reach the Top 10 until the end of the decade, including 1975's "The Pill", one of the first songs to discuss birth control.

32.

Many of Loretta Lynn's songs were autobiographical, and as a songwriter, Loretta Lynn felt no topic was off limits, as long as it was relatable to women.

33.

In 1971, Loretta Lynn began a professional partnership with Conway Twitty.

34.

In 1972, Loretta Lynn was the first woman to be nominated and win Entertainer of the Year at the CMA awards.

35.

Loretta Lynn won the Female Vocalist of the Year and Duo of the Year with Conway Twitty, beating out George Jones and Tammy Wynette and Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton.

36.

In 1977, Loretta Lynn recorded I Remember Patsy, an album dedicated to her friend, singer Patsy Cline, who died in a plane crash in 1963.

37.

In 1979, Loretta Lynn had two Top 5 hits, "I Can't Feel You Anymore" and "I've Got a Picture of Us on My Mind", from separate albums.

38.

Loretta Lynn is the only woman to have won this honor.

39.

Loretta Lynn became a part of the country music scene in Nashville in the 1960s.

40.

Loretta Lynn focused on women's issues with themes about philandering husbands and persistent mistresses.

41.

Loretta Lynn's music was inspired by issues she faced in her marriage.

42.

Loretta Lynn increased the boundaries in the conservative genre of country music by singing about birth control, repeated childbirth, double standards for men and women, and being widowed by the draft during the Vietnam War.

43.

Loretta Lynn was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983, the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.

44.

Loretta Lynn was honored in 2010 at the Country Music Awards.

45.

Loretta Lynn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2013.

46.

Loretta Lynn was a member of the Grand Ole Opry since joining on September 25,1962.

47.

Loretta Lynn recorded 70 albums including 54 studio albums, 15 compilation albums, and a tribute album.

48.

Loretta Lynn was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.

49.

Loretta Lynn returned to the public eye in 1993 with a hit album, the trio album Honky Tonk Angels, recorded with Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette.

50.

Loretta Lynn released a three-CD boxed set chronicling her career on MCA Records.

51.

In 1995, Loretta Lynn was presented with the Pioneer Award at the 30th Academy of Country Music Awards.

52.

In 2000, Loretta Lynn released her first album in several years, Still Country, in which she included "I Can't Hear the Music", a tribute song to her late husband.

53.

Loretta Lynn released her first new single in more than 10 years from the album, "Country in My Genes".

54.

In 2002, Loretta Lynn published her second autobiography, Still Woman Enough, and it became her second New York Times Best Seller, peaking in the top 10.

55.

In 2004, Loretta Lynn released Van Lear Rose, the second album on which Loretta Lynn either wrote or co-wrote every song.

56.

Late in 2010, Sony Music released a new compilation album, Coal Miner's Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn, featuring stars like Reba McEntire, Faith Hill, Paramore, and Carrie Underwood performing Lynn's classic hits spanning 50 years.

57.

In 2012, Loretta Lynn published her third autobiography, Honky Tonk Girl: My Life in Lyrics.

58.

In November 2015, Loretta Lynn announced the completion of a new album, Full Circle.

59.

Loretta Lynn was named Artist of a Lifetime by CMT in 2018.

60.

On March 19,2021, Loretta Lynn released her 50th studio album Still Woman Enough, the fourth album of her deal with Legacy Recordings.

61.

Loretta and Oliver Lynn had six children together, four of whom are still alive, including twin daughters Peggy Jean and Patsy Eileen, born on August 6,1964.

62.

Loretta Lynn's eldest daughter, Betty Sue was born on November 26,1948, and died of complications associated with emphysema on 29 July 2013.

63.

Second child and eldest son, Jack Benny Loretta Lynn, born December 7,1949, was found deceased on July 24,1984, after going missing while horse riding on his mother's Hurricane Mills ranch.

64.

Loretta Lynn was married to Oliver Vanetta "Doolittle" Loretta Lynn almost 50 years until her husband died at age 69.

65.

Loretta Lynn thought I was something special, more special than anyone else in the world, and never let me forget it.

66.

The centerpiece of the ranch is its large plantation home which Loretta Lynn once resided in with her husband and children.

67.

Loretta Lynn had not lived in the antebellum mansion in more than 30 years prior to her death.

68.

In 1971, Loretta Lynn performed at the White House, at the invitation of President Richard Nixon.

69.

In 2016, Loretta Lynn expressed support for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, stumping for him at the end of each of her shows.

70.

Loretta Lynn allowed PETA to use her song "I Wanna Be Free" in a public service campaign to discourage the chaining of dogs outdoors in the cold.

71.

In May 2017, Loretta Lynn had a stroke at her home in Hurricane Mills.

72.

Loretta Lynn was taken to a Nashville hospital and as a result had to cancel all of her upcoming tour dates.

73.

Loretta Lynn died in her sleep at her home in Hurricane Mills on October 4,2022, at the age of 90.

74.

Loretta Lynn was buried three days later on her Hurricane Mills ranch beside her husband Oliver.

75.

Loretta Lynn wrote more than 160 songs and released 60 albums.

76.

Loretta Lynn had 10 No 1 albums and 16 No 1 singles on the country charts.

77.

Loretta Lynn won three Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, eight Broadcast Music Incorporated awards, 13 Academy of Country Music, eight Country Music Association, and 26 fan-voted Music City News awards.

78.

Loretta Lynn remains the most awarded woman in country music history.

79.

Loretta Lynn was the first woman in country music to receive a certified gold album for 1967's Don't Come Home a' Drinkin'.

80.

In 1972, Loretta Lynn was the first woman named "Entertainer of the Year" by the Country Music Association.

81.

Loretta Lynn was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999.

82.

Loretta Lynn was the recipient of Kennedy Center Honors, an award given the President of the United States, in 2003.

83.

In 2002, Loretta Lynn had the highest ranking, No 3, for any living female, in CMT television's special of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.

84.

In March 2007, Loretta Lynn was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music during her performance at the Grand Ole Opry.

85.

Loretta Lynn was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City in 2008.

86.

Loretta Lynn received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her 50 years in country music in 2010.

87.

Loretta Lynn was honored for 50 years in country music at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10,2010.

88.

That same year, Loretta Lynn was presented with a rose named in her honor.

89.

In 2011, Loretta Lynn was nominated for an Academy of Country Music, CMT Video and Country Music Association awards for "Vocal Event of the Year" with Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow for "Coal Miner's Daughter", released as a video and single from the CD.

90.

Loretta Lynn marked her 50th anniversary as a Grand Ole Opry member on September 25,2012, and her 60th anniversary in 2022.

91.

Loretta Lynn was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2013.

92.

Loretta Lynn received the 2015 Billboard Legacy Award for Women in Music.

93.

Loretta Lynn was named Artist of a Lifetime in 2018 by CMT.

94.

In 2020 a statue of Loretta Lynn was unveiled on the Ryman's Icon Walk.

95.

In 2022 Loretta Lynn was inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame.