Loretta Lynn

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Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn, 2005
Background information
Birth name	Loretta Webb
Also known as	The Coal Miner's Daughter The First Lady of Country Music The Decca Doll The Queen of Country Music
Born	( 1932-04-14) April 14, 1932 (age 81) Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, USA
Genres	Country, honky-tonk, gospel
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, author
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1960–present
Labels	Zero (1960) Decca/MCA (1961–1989) Columbia (1993) Audium (2000) Interscope (2004)
Associated acts	Ernest Tubb, Kitty Wells, Wilburn Brothers, Patsy Cline, Conway Twitty, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Jack White, Billy Ray Cyrus, Crystal Gayle, Peggy Sue, The Lynns, Tayla Lynn, Sheryl Crow, Miranda Lambert, Bret Michaels, Willie Nelson
Website	www.lorettalynn.com

Loretta Lynn (nee Webb; born on April 14, 1932) is an American country-music singer-songwriter and author born in Butcher Hollow, near Paintsville, Kentucky, USA, to a coal-miner (Melvin "Ted" Webb) and mother (Clara Webb). At the age of 15 she married, and soon became pregnant. She moved to Washington state with her husband, Oliver Vanetta Lynn, Jr. (1926–1996), nicknamed "Doo" or "Mooney". Their marriage was tumultuous; he had affairs, but she was always headstrong; their life together helped to inspire the music she wrote.
In 1953, on their sixth anniversary, at the age of 21, Lynn's husband bought her a $17 Harmony guitar. She taught herself to play and when she was 24, on her wedding anniversary, he encouraged her to become a singer. She worked to improve her guitar playing, and started singing at the Delta Grange Hall in Washington state with the Pen Brothers' band, The Westerners, then eventually cut her first record (Honky Tonk Girl) in February 1960. She became a part of the country music scene in Nashville in the 1960s, and in 1967 charted her first of 16 number-one hits (out of 70 charted songs as a solo artist and a duet partner)^[1] that include "Don't Come Home A' Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)", "You Ain't Woman Enough", "Fist City", and "Coal Miner's Daughter".
She focused on blue-collar women's issues with themes about philandering husbands and persistent mistresses, and pushed boundaries in the conservative genre of country music by singing about birth control ("The Pill"), repeated childbirth ("One's on the Way"), double standards for men and women ("Rated "X""), and being widowed by the draft during the Vietnam War ("Dear Uncle Sam"). Country music radio stations often refused to play her music, banning nine of her songs, but Loretta pushed on to become "The First Lady of Country Music". Her best-selling 1976 autobiography book "Coal Miner's Daughter" was made into an Academy Award-winning film, Coal Miner's Daughter, starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones, in 1980. Her most recent album, Van Lear Rose, was released in 2004, produced by Jack White (musician), and topped the country album charts. Loretta and Jack were nominated for five Grammys and won two. They earned critical success for their work. Loretta has received numerous awards in country and American music, including being inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1988, and the Song Writers Hall Of Fame in 2008. For 53 years Loretta has been performing and was honored in 2010 at the Country Music Awards for her stellar career. Loretta's most recent honor is being chosen to receive the 2013 Presidential award of freedom, from President Barack Obama, along with Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and Bob Dylan. Loretta has been a member of The Grand Ole Opry for 51 years since joining on September 25, 1962. Her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry was on October 15, 1960. In a press conference she has said, "I've played in a million places, but the Grand Ole Opry is different". Loretta has recorded 60 albums and has sold over 48 million albums worldwide in her career.