Loretta Lynn (born Loretta Webb April 14, 1934) is an American Country music singer-songwriter and was one of the leading country female vocalists during the 1960s and 1970s and overall is revered as a country icon.

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. With a hardscrabble upbringing, a devoted yet troubled marriage, chronic illness and exhaustion due to her hectic pace, and several tragedies through the years, Lynn's own life often provided the grist for her popular tunes. Her best-selling 1976 autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, was made into a hit Oscar-winning film starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones. Though she was out of the loop for a few years while taking care of her husband, who died in 1996, Lynn returned to touring in 1998. In 2000 she released her first album since 1988 to contain original solo material. Loretta Lynn has acquired 16 No. 1 Country hits over the course of her career, both as a solo artist and as a duet artist.

Born to Melvin "Ted" Webb (1906–1959) and Clara Marie (Ramey) Webb (1912–1981) and named in honor of Loretta Young, Loretta Webb was the second of eight children; her youngest sister is country singer Crystal Gayle. Lynn grew up in Butcher Hollow, a section of Van Lear, a mining community officially a part of Paintsville, Johnson County, Kentucky. Loretta's mother Clara was of Scots-Irish and Cherokee ancestry. Her father Ted was a coal miner, store keeper and farmer. Growing up with such humble roots had a huge effect on Lynn's life, which heavily influenced her music as an adult.

She was married to Oliver Vanetta Lynn, commonly known as "Doolittle", "Doo", or "Mooney" (for moonshine), on January 10, 1948, a few months before she turned 14. In an effort to break free of the coal mining industry, Lynn moved to Custer, Washington, with her husband, at the age of 14. The Lynns had four children by the time Loretta was 17 and she was a grandmother at age 29. Lynn always had a passion for music; before getting married she regularly sang at churches and in local concerts. After she was married, she stopped singing in public, wishing rather to focus on her family life. Instead, she passed her love of music on to her children, often singing to them around the house. When Loretta was 18, Doolittle bought her a guitar, which she taught herself to play.

Although they were married for nearly fifty years until Oliver's death in 1996 and had six children, Lynn and her husband had a rocky relationship. In her 2002 autobiography and in an interview with CBS News the same year, Lynn recounts how her husband cheated on her regularly and left her once while she was giving birth. Lynn and her husband also fought frequently, but "he never hit me one time that I didn’t hit him back twice," she said.

Lynn began singing in local clubs and later with a band, The Trailblazers, which included her brother Jay Lee Webb. Lynn appeared in a televised Tacoma, Washington, talent contest, hosted by Buck Owens, which was seen by Norm Burley, one of the founders of Zero Records. Zero Records president Don Grashey arranged a recording session in Hollywood, where four of Lynn's own compositions were recorded: "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl"; "Whispering Sea"; "Heartache Meet Mister Blues" and "New Rainbow". Her first release featured, "Whispering Sea" and "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl". With their initial support Lynn went on to become one of country music’s greats.

Lynn signed her first contract on February 1, 1960, with Zero Records. She recorded her first release in March of that year, with bandleader Speedy West on steel guitar, Harold Hensely on fiddle, Roy Lanham on guitar, Al Williams on bass and Muddy Berry on drums. The album was recorded at Western Recorders, engineered by Don Blake and produced by Grashey.

In 1960 under the Zero label, Lynn recorded "I'm A Honky Tonk Girl." The Lynns toured the country to promote the release to country stations, while Grashey and Del Roy took the music to KFOX in Long Beach, California. When the Lynns reached Nashville, the song was a minor hit, climbing to #14 on Billboard's C & W Chart and Lynn began cutting demo records for the Wilburn Brothers publishing company.. Through the Wilburns, Lynn was able to secure a contract with Decca Records.

Her relationship with the Wilburn Brothers and her appearances on the Grand Old Opry, beginning in 1960, helped Lynn became the number one female recording artist in country music. Lynn's contract with the Wilburn Brothers gave them the publishing rights to her material. She was still fighting to regain these rights thirty years after ending her business relationship with them, but was ultimately denied the publishing rights. Lynn stopped writing music in the 1970s because of these contracts.

Although Kitty Wells had become the first major female country vocalist during the 1950s, by the time Lynn recorded her first record, only three other women - Patsy Cline, Skeeter Davis, and Jean Shepard - had become top stars. By the end of 1962, it was clear that Lynn was on her way to becoming the fourth. Lynn credits Cline as her mentor and best friend during those early years, and as fate would have it, Lynn would follow her as the most popular country vocalist of the early 60s and, eventually, the 1970s.

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), "Louisiana 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 enjoyed enormous success on country radio until the early 1980s when a more pop-flavored type of country music began to dominate the market, one of the leaders of which was her younger sister Crystal Gayle, who enjoyed a string of No. 1 hits until 1987. Lynn as a solo artist, racked most of her No. 1 Country hits during this period, and remained just as popular as a solo artist as a duet artist with Twitty. In the early 70s, Lynn's success as solo artist, led to a string of hits, including "Rated X", "Love Is the Foundation", "One's on the Way", "You're Lookin' At Country", and "Hey Loretta". A couple of these songs, among others, also cracked the bottom of the Billboard Pop charts. Her highest entry on that chart was a duet with Conway Twitty, "After the Fire Is Gone", which reached No. 56 in 1971. Lynn had her last No. 1 in early 1978 with her solo single, "Out of My Head and Back In My Bed".

In 1976, Lynn released Coal Miner's Daughter, an autobiography. The title came from her #1 record of 1970. It became a New York Times bestseller and was made into a film in 1980, starring Sissy Spacek as Lynn and Tommy Lee Jones as her husband, Doolittle Lynn. Spacek won a Best Actress Academy Award for the part. Due mostly to the critical and commercial success of the film, Lynn gained more "mainstream" attention in the early 1980s, starring in two primetime specials on NBC.

Lynn was the first woman in country music to have 50 Top Ten hits. Her last top 10 record as a soloist was "I Lie" in 1982, but her releases continued to chart until the end of the decade. Lynn continued to have Top 20 hits up until 1985, including, 1980's "Cheatin' a Cheater" and 1981's "Somebody Led Me Away". In 1985, she returned to the Top 20 with, "Making Love From Memory", but by this time, it was evident that Lynn's chart success was fading, however, Lynn did continue to chart until the end of the decade. One of her last solo releases was 1988's "Heart Don't Do This to Me", which only reached No. 57. In 1990, Lynn stopped releasing singles and focused more on touring than promoting. As a concert artist, she remained a top draw throughout her career, but by the early 1990s she drastically cut down the number of personal appearances due to the fragile health of her husband, who died in 1996.

Her unique material, which sassily and bluntly addressed issues in the lives of many women (particularly in the Southern United States), made her stand out among country female vocalists. As a songwriter, Lynn believed no topic was off limits, as long as it spoke to other women, and many of her songs were autobiographical. Lynn was reportedly once inspired to write a song about a real woman whom she suspected was flirting with her husband; the song, "You Ain't Woman Enough (To Take My Man)" was an instant hit and became one of Lynn's all-time best. Despite some criticism, Lynn's openness and honesty won the day, drawing fans from around the nation. Lynn got attention and admiration from many fans and critics who were not familiar with country music. When country music legend Patsy Cline died in a plane crash in 1963, Lynn was devastated by her death. Fourteen years later Lynn recorded one of her most successful albums, I Remember Patsy featuring Cline remakes; two of the songs from the album became Top Ten hits for Lynn as they had been for Cline 15 years earlier.

Lynn's mother, Clara Marie (Ramey) Webb , died of cancer in 1981. In 1984, Lynn's son Jack Benny drowned. Her husband died in 1996 from complications of diabetes.

Lynn returned to the public eye in 1993 with the trio album Honky Tonk Angels, recorded with Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, and the following year released a three-CD boxed set chronicling her career. Also, in 1995 she taped a seven-week series on the Nashville Network (TNN) titled Loretta Lynn & Friends, and performed about 50 dates that year as well.

In 2000, Loretta Lynn released her first album in several years entitled Still Country. In it, she included a song, "I Can't Hear the Music", as a tribute to her late husband. She also released her first new single in over ten years from the album called "Country In My Genes", which didn't make the Country Top 40. While the album gained positive critical notices, sales were low in comparison with her releases in the 1970s. In 2002, Lynn published Still Woman Enough, a second autobiography. In 2004, she published You're Cookin' It Country, a cookbook.

In 2004 Lynn and Conway Twitty's rendition of "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" appeared in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on fictional country music station K-ROSE. In 2005, her son pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in a DUI-related accident.

In 2004, Lynn made a comeback with the highly successful album Van Lear Rose, the second album on which Lynn either wrote or co-wrote every song. The album was produced by her "friend forever" Jack White of The White Stripes, and featured guitar work and backup vocals by White. Her collaboration with White allowed Lynn to reach new audiences and generations, even garnering high praise in magazines that specialize in mainstream/alt rock music, such as Spin and Blender. Rolling Stone magazine voted the album the second best of the year 2004. White has long been an admirer of Lynn and claims she is his favorite singer. He has covered several songs of hers, including the controversial "Rated X".

In 2006, Lynn underwent shoulder surgery after injuring herself in a fall.

On December 8, 2007, Lynn visited Lincoln County High School of Hamlin, West Virginia, where fried chicken was prepared by Ada Carol Adkins, along with other members of the school's cafeteria staff.

Lynn has written over 160 songs and released 70 albums. She has had seventeen #1 albums and twenty-seven #1 singles on the country charts. Lynn has won dozens of awards from many different institutions, including four Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, eight Broadcast Music Incorporated awards, and ten Academy of Country Music awards.

In 1972, Lynn was the first woman named "Entertainer of the Year" by the Country Music Association, and is one of five women to have received CMA's highest award. She was named "Artist of the Decade" for the 1970s by the Academy of Country Music. Lynn was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999. She was also the recipient of Kennedy Center Honors in 2003. Lynn is also ranked 65th on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2002, Lynn also placed at No. 3 on CMT television's special of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music, hosted by Billy Campbell. At No. 1 was Lynn's friend and mentor, Patsy Cline.

Lynn owns a ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, billed as "The 7th Largest Attraction in Tennessee", featuring a recording studio, museums, lodging, and other attractions. The ranch is centered around her large plantation home, along with a replica of her Butcher Holler cabin. She no longer lives in the plantation home, but tours of the house are available.

On March 17, 2007, Berklee College of Music presented Loretta an Honorary Doctorate of Music degree for her contribution to the world of country music. The degree was presented to her on stage at the Grand Ole Opry.

In her heyday, Lynn was no stranger to controversy. She had more banned songs than any other artist in the history of country music, including "Rated X", about the double standards divorced women face, "Wings Upon Your Horns", about the loss of teenage virginity, and "The Pill", about a wife and mother becoming liberated via the birth control pill. Her song "Dear Uncle Sam", released in 1966, was an early protest of the Vietnam War, and was added to live sets during the current Iraq War.

Lynn is believed to be a Republican. She campaigned for George Herbert Walker Bush in 1988 and 1992 and remains close to him, and also supported his son in the 2000 election. In 1976 and 1980, however, she was one of Jimmy Carter's most ardent supporters and likewise enjoys a friendship with the former president. In her autobiography, Lynn writes that her father was a Republican and her mother a Democrat. Her writings suggest she was not a supporter of Ronald Reagan and she has also publicly criticized Bill Clinton.

For a complete list of albums and singles, please visit the Loretta Lynn discography page.

* In The Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music, Nicholas Dawidoff, Vintage Books, 1998. ISBN 0-375-70082-X * Are You Ready for the Country: Elvis, Dylan, Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock, Peter Dogget, Penguin Books, 2001. ISBN 0-14-026108-7 * Dreaming Out Loud: Garth Brooks, Wynonna Judd, Wade Hayes and the changing face of Nashville, Bruce Feiler, Avon Books, 1998. ISBN 0-380-97578-5

* Official Website * Loretta Lynn Photo Galleries * Radio appearance on "The Motley Fool" * Loretta Lynn at the Country Music Hall of Fame * Loretta Lynn at the Grand Ole Opry * Family Tree of Oliver Vanetta Lynn, Jr., and Loretta Webb * Official Website of the Van Lear, Kentucky Historical Society, Inc. * 60 Minutes II interview with Loretta Lynn and Jack White

* * Academy of Country Music * List of country musicians * Country Music Hall of Fame