This is NOT an official Loretta Lynn site and is meant only for the entertainment of her fans. To visit her web site, use the link at the bottom of this page. We can not contact Loretta on your behalf. Thank you.

Loretta Lynn is one of the classic country singers. During the '60s and '70s, she ruled the charts, racking up over 70 hits as a solo artist and a duet partner. Lynn helped forge the way for strong, independent women in country music.

As her song (and movie and book) says, Loretta Lynn is a coal miner's daughter, born in Butcher Hollow, KY, in 1934. As a child, she sang in church and a variety of local concerts. In January 1948, she married Oliver "Mooney" Lynn. She was 13 years old at the time. Following their marriage, the couple moved to Custer, WA, where they raised four children.

After a decade of motherhood, Lynn began performing her own songs in local clubs, backed by a band led by her brother, Jay Lee Webb. It took her a decade of gigging before she was noticed by a record label. In 1959, she signed a contract with Zero Records, which released her debut single, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl," in 1960. The honky tonk ballad became a hit thanks to the insistent, independent promotion of Lynn and her husband. The pair would drive from one radio station to the next, getting the DJs to play her single, and sent out thousands of copies to stations. All of the effort paid off -- the single reached number 14 on the charts and attracted the attention of the Wilburn Brothers. The Wilburns hired Lynn to tour with them in 1960 and advised her to relocate to Nashville. She followed their advice and moved to the city in late 1960. After she arrived in Nashville, she signed with Decca Records. At Decca, she would work with Owen Bradley, who had produced Patsy Cline.

Lynn released her first Decca single, "Success," in 1962 and it went straight to number six, beginning a string of Top Ten singles that would run through the rest of the decade and throughout the next. She was a hard honky tonk singer for the first half of the '60s and rarely strayed from the genre. Although she still worked within the confines of honky tonk in the latter half of the decade, her sound became more personal, varied and ambitious, particularly lyrically. Beginning with 1966's number two hit "You Ain't Woman Enough," Lynn began writing songs that had a feminist viewpoint, which was unheard of in country music. Her lyrical stance became more autobiographical and realistic as time wore on, highlighted by such hits as "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)" (1966), "Your Squaw Is on the Warpath" (1968), "Woman of the World (Leave My World Alone)" (1969), and a tune about birth control called "The Pill" (1974).

Between 1966 and 1970, Loretta Lynn racked up 13 Top Ten hits, including four number one hits -- "Don't Come Home A'Drinkin'," "Fist City" (1968), "Woman of the World," and the autobiographical "Coal Miner's Daughter." In 1971, she began a professional partnership with Conway Twitty. As a duo, Lynn and Twitty had five consecutive number one hits between 1971 and 1975 -- "After the Fire Is Gone" (1971), "Lead Me On" (1971), "Lousiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (1973), "As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone" (1974), and "Feelins'" (1974). The hit-streak kick-started what would become one of the most successful duos of country history. For four consecutive years (1972-1975), Lynn and Twitty were named the Vocal Duo of the Year by the Country Music Association. In addition to their five number one singles, they had seven other Top Ten hits between 1976 and 1981.

Loretta Lynn published her autobiography, -Coal Miner's Daughter, in the mid-'70s. In 1980, the book was adapted for the screen, with Sissy Spacek as Lynn. The film was one of the most critically acclaimed and successful films of the year and Spacek would win the Academy Award for her performance. All of the attention surrounding the movie made Loretta Lynn a household name with the American mainstream. Although she continued to be a popular concert attraction throughout the '80s, she wasn't able to continue her domination of the country charts. "I Lie," her last Top Ten single, arrived in early 1982, while her last Top 40 single, "Heart Don't Do This to Me," was in 1985. In light of her declining record sales, Lynn backed away from recording frequently during the late '80s and '90s, concentrating on performing instead. In 1993, she recorded the Honky Tonk Angels album with Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton. Still Woman Enough was released in mid-2000. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Patsy Cline has influenced the way women sing in country music more than any other, Loretta Lynn has had the most influence on what they sing about. Since 1960, when she had her first hit with "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl," Lynn's best songs have offered a fierce combination of freedom and fidelity, dealing unabashedly with such topics as birth control--"The Pill"--divorce--"Rated X"--and marital respect--"Don't Come Home A'Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)."

Born Loretta Webb, April 14, 1934, in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, Lynn married Oliver "Mooney" Lynn when she was just 13 and stayed with him until his death in 1996. She had four kids by the time she was 18 and didn't have her first hit until she was 26. After "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl," released on the independent Zero and promoted personally by Mooney and Loretta at radio stations across the country, Lynn had another 68 top 40 hits, all of them for Decca or MCA. She joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1962, where she was befriended and inspired by both Ernest Tubb and Patsy Cline. Such hits as "You Ain't Woman Enough," "Fist City" and "Love Is the Foundation" brought her Female Vocalist Of The Year awards from the Country Music Association in 1967, 1972 and 1973; she became the first woman to be named the association's Entertainer Of The Year in 1972. She had more than a dozen hits with Conway Twitty between 1971 and 1981; songs like "Lead Me On," "Feelins" and "You're The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly" were so emotionally convincing that many country fans thought the two were married, and the duo won the CMA's Vocal Duo Of The Year from 1972-75.

Lynn was named the Academy Of Country Music's Artist Of The Decade in 1980, the same year that her autobiography Coal Miner's Daughter became a film starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones. Lynn was elected to the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1988. Though few of her original albums are available today, the three-disc Honky Tonk Girl: The Loretta Lynn Collection, released in 1994, is an excellent overview of Lynn's career.

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CMT NAMES LORETTA LYNN THE 2005 RECIPIENT OF THE "JOHNNY CASH VISIONARY AWARD"

These three beautiful "Country Music Legends" teamed up for an awesome album!

Never before in country music have beauty and talent been so apparent as when these three lovely legends got together for this album! It's a 'must have' in any country music fans collection!

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This is a totally unofficial Loretta Lynn site created only as a tribute to her. To contact Loretta Lynn's fan club etc. go to her official web site: www.lorettalynn.com Thank you.

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