Known for her ministries and mascara, Tammy Faye was born Tamara Faye LaValley on March 7, 1942, in International Falls, Minnesota. As the eldest of eight children born to Pentecostal preachers, Faye helped her mother with household chores and caring for her younger siblings. In high school, Faye worked part-time at Woolworth's Department Store; however, her church did not allow her to attend school dances, baseball games, or the movies.

While attending Bible college, Faye met fellow student and former disc jockey, Jim Bakker. In 1961, eighteen-year-old Faye married Jim Bakker, and that same year, was expelled from Bible college. The couple then moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Faye worked in a boutique and Jim worked in a restaurant. The following year, the couple moved to North Carolina, where they became involved in televangelism.

From 1964 to 1973, the Bakkers appeared on Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcast Network (CBN), where Bakker preached and Faye sang, played the accordion, and performed puppet shows. From there, they co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network and the PTL club (also known as The Jim and Tammy Show.) Meanwhile, Faye also recorded several gospel and Christian albums during the 70s and 80s.

By the mid-80s, the Bakkers had became widely-recognized televangelists; however, as their following grew, so too did their opulent lifestyle, which reportedly included furnishing their home with gold-plated fixtures (which Bakker later maintained were actually brass.) The Bakkers also expanded their empire with the construction of a Christian theme park in South Carolina, called Heritage USA.

With the public looking to Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker as the perfect model of a Christian marriage, once news hit that Bakker had an affair with church secretary, Jessica Hahn, they experienced a highly-publicized fall from grace. Bakker resigned from the ministry, and PTL went bankrupt after being taken over in 1988 by Virginia-based Baptist televangelist, Jerry Falwell.

Following the sex-scandal, Jim Bakker was convicted on charges of defrauding funds raised for Heritage USA, and the couple divorced while Bakker served his prison sentence. In 1993, Faye married Heritage USA building contractor and Bakker’s former best friend, Roe Messner.

In 1996, Faye returned to television to co-host The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show with HIV-positive and openly gay actor, Jim J. Bullock. Faye left the show when she was diagnosed with colon cancer, and underwent an operation to remove a tumor.

The new millennium saw Faye continuing her battle with cancer, and also being featured as the subject of a documentary, The Eyes of Tammy Faye in 2000, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Her struggles with cancer were also chronicled in the 2004 documentary, Tammy Faye: Death Defying. Also that year, Faye appeared on the second season of the VH1 celeb-reality show, The Surreal Life, alongside Vanilla Ice, Traci Bingham, Trishelle Cannatella, Erik Estrada, Ron Jeremy, and Gary Coleman. By the end of the show, Faye had proven her genuine concern for her house mates, earning their respect in the process. She also commented that porn star Ron Jeremy was "one of the nicest and most gentlemanly people" she had ever met.

On December 15, 2006, Faye announced on Larry King Live that she was continuing to fight cancer, and was receiving hospice care in her home. Her son, popular "punk" pastor, Jay Bakker, has revealed that his mother's weight has hit a low of sixty-eight pounds.

Following Tammy's late 2006 appearance on 'Larry King Live', she once again requested an inteview with Larry on July 19th 2007 where she appeared in full make up, jewelry and wig along with her husband, and a link to her pastor son, Jay. She spoke with a breaking voice about her feelings of her impending death and of her excitement at having agined 5lb in weight. With a philisophical attitude to her terminal cancer she took questions from viewers and in her usual high  spirited way gave positive answers and when asked what she would like to be remembered by, she quipped that she would like to be remembered for her trade mark 'eyelashes'.

Within four days of her interview with Larry King, it was announced on July 21st 2007 that Tammy Faye had lost her long fight with cancer and at the age of sixty five years old she had passed away.

YUDDY