Loretta Lynn Brief Biography

Loretta Lynn (née Webb; born April 14, 1932) is an American country-music singer-songwriter and author. Born in Butcher Hollow, near Paintsville, Kentucky, USA, to a coal-miner father. At the age of 15 she married, and soon she became pregnant. She moved to Washington state with her husband, Oliver Vanetta Lynn, Jr. (1926-1996), nicknamed "Doo". Their marriage was tumultuous; he had affairs, and she was headstrong; their life together helped to inspire her music.

On her 21st birthday, 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, started singing at the Delta Grange Hall in Washington state with the Pen Brothers' band, The Westerners, then eventually cut her first record 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) 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".

Loretta Lynn News

• Zooey Deschanel to play Loretta Lynn in Broadway stage adaptation
• Loretta Lynn recovering at home after being treated for pneumonia
• Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney, Zac Brown earn ACM Award nods