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In her best-selling Coal Miner's Daughter, Lynn allowed us to watch her grow from a na‹ve mountain girl in Butcher Holler, KY, into a country superstar. Husband Doolittle "Doo" Lynn played a major role in that earlier memoir, and it was his death in August 1996, as well as the passing of several close friends, that made her realize that her life story deserved a sequel. Here, the Country Music Hall of Fame member sets us down on the porch and talks more about Doo (his alcoholism and womanizing in particular), her own struggles with bacterial pneumonia and other health conditions, and the deaths of her mother, siblings, and son, Jack Benny. With her homespun, folksy voice, Lynn also reminisces about many of her friends Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Patsy Cline, Cal Smith, Ernest Tubb, Faron Young, Conway Twitty, and Tammy Wynette and thanks the Wilburn Brothers for taking her under their wing and helping launch her career. Humorous and honest, Lynn gives us that rare opportunity to know what kind of strength it takes to stand by one's man (in spite of Doo's boozing and cheating, she loves him to this day) and make it through the night.



Loretta Lynn (born Loretta Webb April 14, 1935) is an American country singer and was one of the leading country female vocalists during the 1960s and 1970s.

Early life

Born to Melvin "Ted" and Clara Marie (Ramey) Webb and named in honor of Loretta Young, Lynn grew up in Butcher Holler, a section of Van Lear, a mining community in Johnson County, Kentucky. Loretta's grandfather was Nathaniel Ramey, who was of Cherokee ancestry. Her father Ted was a coal miner, store keeper and farmer. Growing up with such humble roots had a huge effect on Lynn's life, which heavily influenced her music as an adult. She was married to Oliver Vanetta Lynn, commonly known as "Doolittle", "Doo", or "Mooney" (for moonshine), on January 10, 1948, a few months before she turned 14. Lynn moved to Washington, Kentucky with her husband at the age of 14. Shortly thereafter, in an effort to break free of the coal mining industry, the couple moved across the country to Custer, Washington. The Lynns had four children by the time Loretta was 17 and she was a grandmother at age 29. Lynn always had a passion for music; before getting married she regularly sang at churches and in local concerts. After she was married, she stopped singing in public, wishing rather to focus on her family life. Instead, she passed her love of music on to her children, often singing to them around the house. When Loretta was 18, Doolittle bought her a guitar, which she taught herself to play.

Childhood home of Loretta Lynn

Although they were married for nearly fifty years and had six children, Lynn and her husband had a rocky relationship. In her 2002 autobiography and in an interview with CBS News the same year, Lynn recounts how her husband cheated on her regularly and left her once while she was giving birth. Lynn and her husband also fought frequently, but "he never hit me one time that I didn’t hit him back twice," she said.

Career

Early years

Lynn began singing in local clubs and later with a band, The Trailblazers, which included her brother Jay Lee Webb. Lynn appeared in a televised Tacoma, Washington, talent contest, hosted by Buck Owens, which was seen by Norm Burley, one of the founders of Zero Records.

Zero Records president Don Grashey arranged a recording session in Hollywood, where four of Lynn's own compositions were recorded: "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl"; "Whispering Sea"; "Heartache Meet Mister Blues" and "New Rainbow". Her first release featured, "Whispering Sea" and "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl". With their initial support Lynn went on to become one of country music’s greats.

Lynn signed her first contract on February 1, 1960, with Zero Records. She recorded her first release in March of that year, with bandleader Speedy West on steel guitar, Harold Hensely on fiddle, Roy Lanham on guitar, Al Williams on bass and Muddy BerryWestern Recorders, engineered by Don Blake and produced by Grashey.

In 1960 under the Zero label, Lynn recorded "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl." The Lynns toured the country to promote the release to country stations, while Grashey and Del Roy took the music to KFOX in Long Beach, California. When the Lynns reached Nashville, the song was a minor hit, climbing to #14 on Billboard's C & W Chart and Lynn began cutting demo records for the Wilburn Brothers publishing company. Through the Wilburns, Lynn was able to secure a contract with Decca Records.

Her relationship with the Wilburn Brothers and her appearances on the Grand Old Opry, beginning in 1960, helped Lynn became the number one female recording artist in country music. Lynn's contract with the Wilburn Brothers gave them the publishing rights to her material. She was still fighting to regain these rights thirty years after ending her business relationship with them, but was ultimately denied the publishing rights. Lynn stopped writing music in the 1970s because of these contracts.

Stardom

Although Kitty Wells had become the first major female country vocalist during the 1950s, by the time Lynn recorded her first record, only three other women - Patsy Cline, Skeeter Davis, and Jean Shepard - had become top stars. By the end of 1962, it was clear that Lynn was on her way to becoming the fourth. Lynn credits Cline as her mentor and best friend during those early years, and as fate would have it, Lynn would follow her as the most popular country vocalist of the early 60s and, eventually, the 1970s.

In 1976, Lynn released Coal Miner's Daughter, an autobiography. The title came from her #1 record of 1970. It became a New York Times bestseller and was made into a film in 1980, starring Sissy Spacek as Lynn and Tommy Lee Jones as her husband. Spacek won a Best Actress Academy Award for the part. Due mostly to the critical and commercial success of the film, Lynn gained more "mainstream" attention in the early 1980s, starring in two primetime specials on NBC.

Loretta Lynn enjoyed enormous success on country radio until the early 1980s when a more pop-flavored type of country music began to dominate the market, one of the leaders of which was her younger sister Crystal Gayle. Lynn was the first woman in country music to have 50 Top Ten hits. Her last top 10 record as a soloist was "I Lie" in 1982, but her releases continued to chart until the end of the decade. As a concert artist, she remained a top draw throughout her career, but by the early 1990s she drastically cut down the number of personal appearances due to the fragile health of her husband, who died in 1996.

Her unique material, which sassily and bluntly addressed issues in the lives of many women (particularly in the Southern United States), made her stand out among country female vocalists. As a songwriter, Lynn believed no topic was off limits, as long as it spoke to other women, and many of her songs were autobiographical. Lynn was reportedly once inspired to write a song about a real woman whom she suspected was flirting with her husband; the song, "You Aint Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" was an instant hit and became one of Lynn's all-time best. Despite some criticism, Lynn's openness and honesty won the day, drawing fans from around the nation.

Lynn got attention and admiration from many fans and critics who were not familiar with country music. When country music legend Patsy Cline died in a plane crash in 1963, Lynn was devastated by her death. Fourteen years later Lynn recorded one of her most successful albums, "I Remember Patsy" featuring Cline remakes; two of the songs from the album became Top Ten hits for Lynn as they had been for Cline 15 years earlier. She also collaborated many times with close friend Conway Twitty; from 1971 thru 1981 they had 12 Top Ten hits, making them one of the most successful recording duets in country music history. Poet and children's author Shel Silverstein wrote Lynn's hit songs "One's on the Way","Hey Loretta" and "Here I Am Again" all reaching the Top Five on Billboard.

Later life and comeback

In 1984, Lynn's son Jack Benny drowned. Her mother also died of cancer around this time. Her husband died in 1996 from complications of diabetes.

In 2000, Loretta Lynn released her first album in several years entitled Still Country. In it, she included a song, "I Can't Hear the Music", as a tribute to her late husband. While the album gained positive critical notices, sales were low in comparison with her releases in the 1970s. In 2002, Lynn published Still Woman Enough, a second autobiography. In 2004, she published You're Cookin' It Country, a cookbook.

In 2004 Lynn and Conway Twitty's rendition of "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" appeared in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on fictional country music station K-ROSE. In 2005, her son pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in a DUI-related accident.

In 2004, Lynn made a comeback with the highly successful album Van Lear Rose, the second album on which Lynn either wrote or co-wrote every song. The album was produced by her "friend forever" Jack White of The White Stripes, and featured guitar work and backup vocals by White. Her collaboration with White allowed Lynn to reach new audiences and generations, even garnering high praise in magazines that specialize in mainstream/alt rock music, such as Spin and Blender. White has long been an admirer of Lynn and claims she is his favorite singer. He has covered several songs of hers, including the controversial "Rated X".

In 2006, Lynn underwent shoulder surgery after injuring herself in a fall.

Honors and awards

Lynn has written over 160 songs and released 70 albums. She has had seventeen #1 albums and twenty-seven #1 singles on the country charts. Lynn has won dozens of awards from many different institutions, including four Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, eight Broadcast Music Incorporated awards, and ten Academy of Country Music awards.

In 1972, Lynn was the first woman named "Entertainer of the Year" by the Country Music Association, and is one of five women to have received CMA's highest award. She was named "Artist of the Decade" for the 1970s by the Academy of Country Music. Lynn was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999. She was also the recipient of Kennedy Center Honors in 2003. Lynn is also ranked 65th on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Lynn owns a ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, billed as "The 7th Largest Attraction in Tennessee", featuring a recording studio, museums, lodging, and other attractions.

On March 17, 2007, Berklee College of Music presented Loretta an Honorary Doctorate of Music degree for her contribution to the world of country music. The degree was presented to her on stage at the Grand Ole Opry.

Controversies

In her heyday, Lynn was no stranger to controversy. She had more banned songs than any other artist in the history of country music, including "Rated X", about the double standards divorced women face, "Wings Upon Your Horns", about the loss of teenage virginity, and "The Pill", about a wife and mother becoming liberated via the birth control pill. Her song "Dear Uncle Sam", released in 1966, was an early protest of the Vietnam War, and was added to live sets during the current Iraq War.

Politics

Lynn is believed to be a Republican. She campaigned for George Herbert Walker Bush in 1988 and 1992 and remains close to him, and also supported his son in the 2000 election. In 1976 and 1980, however, she was one of Jimmy Carter's most ardent supporters and likewise enjoys a friendship with the former president. In her autobiography, Lynn writes her father was a Republican and her mother a Democrat. Her writings suggest she was not a supporter of Ronald ReaganBill Clinton and she has also publicly criticized

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