Loretta Lynn, the coal miner’s daughter turned singer-songwriter whose authenticity, toughness and larger-than-life story inspired generations of female musicians and turned the turmoil and troubles of everyday life into an art form, passed away today, [Oct. 4]. Lynn died at home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, her family have confirmed. She was 90 years old.
Starting her career with 1966’s Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind), she topped the US country charts 16 times and was nominated for 18 Grammy awards, winning three.
Lynn released ‘Still Woman Enough‘, her fiftieth and final album, just last year. In our review, Kate French-Morris described the album as “a gutsy, late-career flourish – ‘Still Woman Enough’ celebrates a life still being lived.” Throughout her long career, Lynn influenced so many artists from Margo Price and Bria, Miranda Lambert to Taylor Swift – country music has been shaped forever by Lynn’s legacy.
Throughout her remarkable career, Lynn received eight Country Music Association Awards in addition to being honoured with CMA’s Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. Lynn became the first woman to receive the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year in 1972. She was the first recipient of the CMA Award for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1967 and went on to win that award twice more (1972, 1973). She and frequent duet partner Conway Twitty won the CMA Award for Vocal Duo of the Year for four consecutive years from 1972 to 1975. Lynn was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.
Sarah Trahern, Country Music Association CEO said of her passing: “It is not enough to say today that Country Music has lost Loretta Lynn, but rather the world has lost a true music legend. Loretta was a woman whose contributions and impact inspired countless artists and transformed the Country genre into a universal art form. She was a Country Music Hall of Fame member and the first woman to receive a CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year. As a trailblazing songwriter, she bravely wrote about socially and culturally relevant topics that came to define a generation. I’ll personally remember Loretta for her spirit, artistry and genius that rivalled contemporaries like Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.”
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