Country Music Superstar Loretta Lynn Dies At 90

Loretta Lynn, the famed country music singer and songwriter and the subject of the theatrical Coal Miner’s Daughter, died on Tuesday morning surrounded by her family at her Tennessee ranch from natural causes. She was 90.

Born Loretta Webb in a one-room rural Kentucky cabin on April 14, 1932, Lynn was the oldest of eight siblings and the daughter of a coal miner – a fact that led to her signature song (and aforementioned movie), Coal Miner’s Daughter.

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Married to Oliver Vanetta “Doolittle” Lynn at just age 15, Loretta Lynn got her start in country music when Doolittle bought her a guitar. That resulted in her own band, Loretta and the Trailblazers with her brother Jay Lee playing lead guitar. Lynn often appeared at Bob’s Tavern in Blaine Washington and the Delta Grange Hall in Custer, Washington, with the Pen Brothers’ band and the Westerneers.

She cut her first record, I’m a Honky Tonk Girl in February 1960 and began driving from one country station to another with Doolittle, marketing the single themselves.

“Because we were too poor to stay in hotels, we slept in the car and ate baloney and cheese sandwiches in the parks. We were on the road three months,” she once said in an interview.

Over her six-decade career, Lynn went on to sell more than 45 million albums.

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In 1967, Lynn had the first of 16 No. 1 hits, which included Don’t Come Home-A Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind), You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man), and Coal Miner’s Daughter.

As well as solo releases Lynn partnered with country stars such as Conway Twitty, with whom she recorded 10 duet albums, and Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette for the 1993 album Honky Tonk Angels. She also recorded with kd lang, and recorded a tribute to Patsy Cline after her death in a plane crash in 1963.

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As the first woman to receive the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award in 1972, Lynn continued to reach the Top 10 until the end of the 70s. Included was The Pill in 1975, one of the first songs to discuss birth control. Many of Lynn’s songs were autobiographical in nature and often relatable to women.

Additionally, Lynn was the the recipient of four Grammys, a 2003 Kennedy Center honor, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In 1976, she released her autobiography, Coal Miner’s Daughter, which made Lynn the first country music artist to make The New York Times Best Seller list.

In 2004, Lynn found a second act of sorts from the success of a 2004 collaboration with Jack White.

Loretta Lynn also dabbled in acting, with guest shots in the original Fantasy Island and (as herself) on sitcom Roseanne. And she appeared in a host of variety hours and talk shows over the course of her career, including multiple appearances on the country-themed Hee Haw.

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In addition to Sissy Spacek’s Oscar-winning performance as Lynn in the 1980 film The Coal Miner’s Daughter, she was portrayed by Jessie Mueller in the 2019 Lifetime TV film Patsy & Loretta, which followed her friendship with Patsy Cline.

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In 1976, she released her autobiography, Coal Miner’s Daughter, which made Lynn the first country music artist to make The New York Times Best Seller list.

Despite husband Doolittle’s frequent infidelity (which was addressed in a number of Lynn’s songs) and struggle with alcoholism, the couple remained together for 48 years, until his death in 1996. They had six children together, three of them before Lynn was 20. She is survived by four of her six children: Clara, Ernest and twins Peggy and Patsy.