Despite her busy home life, Lynn’s passion for music also became a need to attend to, and she began singing solo in local clubs as well as with a band known as The Trailblazers. It was around this time that Lynn entered a televised talent contest in Tacoma, Washington, and was spotted by a founders of Zero Records. The label promptly signed Lynn on February 1, 1960, and arranged for her first recording session in Hollywood, far from the Kentucky coal mines she hailed from. That same year, Lynn recorded one of her signature songs, "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl," and then set off on a cross-country tour to promote the album.
At the time of Lynn’s debut record release, only three other women: Patsy Cline, Skeeter Davis, and Jean Shepard, had managed to top the country music charts. It was not long after her debut that Lynn joined them in this feat, and went on to become one of the most beloved country singers for the sincerity of her songs and her personality. In 1976, Lynn captured her humble beginnings in her autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, which went on to become a New York Times bestseller and was adapted to film in 1980, starring Sissy Spacek as Lynn and Tommy Lee Jones as her husband.
Lynn reigned supreme as country music’s queen during the 60s and 70s; however the 80s slowly ushered in a more pop-oriented type of country music that would eventually be led by such singers as Shania Twain and Faith Hill in the 90s. Lynn’s younger sister, Crystal Gayle, was adept at the new pop-inflected country, topping the charts in the early 80s.
The mid-80s was a personally trying time for Lynn, who was devastated by the 1984 drowning of her son, Jack Benny; as well as her mother’s passing of cancer around this same time. In 1966, Lynn’s husband of forty-eight years also lost his life to complications from diabetes.
The new millennium saw a resurgence in creativity for Lynn and a new-found reverence from the public for her contributions to country music. In 2000, she released her first album in twelve years, Still Country. Two years later, Lynn published her second autobiography, Still Woman Enough; and in 2004, published a cookbook titled, You're Cookin' It Country. Also in 2004, Lynn released the critically and commercially successful album, Van Lear Rose, which was produced by, and featured guitar and backup vocals from, her "friend forever," Jack White of The White Stripes. White has lent his own appreciation of Lynn to a whole new generation, and regards her as his favorite singer.
Over the span of her illustrious career, Lynn has released seventeen #1 albums and twenty-seven #1 singles on the country charts. She has been recognized with four Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, eight Broadcast Music Incorporated awards, and ten Academy of Country Music awards.
Lynn currently lives on a ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, which is one of the top tourist attractions in the state.
YUDDY
