At the age of 90, country music icon Loretta Lynn passed away.
Her family has reported that she passed away on October 4 at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
In a statement to the Associated Press, they wrote, “Our lovely mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, on her sleep at home in her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills.”
Lynn made history in the music business by being the first female performer of the year at the Country Music Awards in 1972. In 1988, she was admitted to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The 1970 autobiographical track “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was one of her numerous top hits (which was also the name of her memoir book, and the title of a movie made inspired by her life story in 1980).
Lynn, who was born in a tiny Kentucky hamlet in 1932, married Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, a war veteran, when she was 13 years old. After being married, the pair relocated from their hometown, and according to Lynn, she had four children by the time she was 18 years old.
According to Lynn’s online profile, she turned to music for comfort since she felt “isolated” and “burdened with household duties.”
She said to NPR in 2010 that “both my spouse and I worked.” “Before I began singing, I looked after a farmhouse, cleaned, and prepared meals for 36 ranch employees. Singing was so simple. Wow, this is an easy job, I thought.”
Lynn started performing and creating songs in neighborhood nightclubs after her husband gave her a guitar. When Lynn was 25 years old, a modest Canadian label offered her her first record contract.
Over the course of her career, she went on to create 16 No. 1 country hits and several honors. She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.