Country music world mourns the loss of ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’ singer Loretta Lynn, aged 90

The country music world is currently grieving over the loss of their biggest and most celebrated singer, Loretta Lynn, who passed away on Tuesday, October 4, at the age of 90.

Lynn, who had previously suffered from health issues back in May 2017 following a stroke two weeks after celebrating her 85th birthday, died peacefully at her home in Hurricane Mill, Tennessee, her family confirmed.

“Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home in her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills,” the family shared on Twitter, while also asking for privacy.

The beloved Kentucky-born feminist enjoyed a trailblazing seven-decade career that paved the way for other female performers at a time when the entertainment and music industry was largely dominated by males.

ARTIST OF THE DAY |

Loretta Lyn (1932- 4 Oct. 2022)

After a hardscrabble start, Loretta Lynn rose from poverty in Kentucky to the top of Billboard’s Nashville charts and brought a strong woman’s voice to country music. pic.twitter.com/llHdXJAMqa

— Michael J. Arvizu (@thedjmichaelj) October 4, 2022

Lynn crafted her own songs on topics revolving around sexual liberation, divorce, and womanising husbands, resulting in 14 of her songs being banned by radio stations.

“I wasn’t the first woman in country music,” she said in a 2007 Esquire interview.

“I was just the first one to stand up there and say what I thought, what life was about. The rest were afraid to.”

For someone who grew up far from the reaches of the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry in a small coal mining town called Butcher Holler and who was married at 13 with four kids by 18, the idea of achieving superstardom seemed like a pipe dream.

However, despite the challenges in her way she achieved a breakthough when she was just 17 years old with her song Success, which became the first of many major hit songs.

A score of hit songs soon followed throughout the 60s and 70s such as Fist City, Don’t Come Home a’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind), You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man) and  Coal Miner’s Daughter which was a tribute to her late father.

Just two years after the release of her signature hit Coal Miner’s Daughter she became the first woman in history to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award.

During her lifetime, she won four Grammys, a 2003 Kennedy Center honour, received a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and sold more than 45 million albums.

Widowed since 1996, Lynn is survived by four children, Clara, Ernest, and twins Peggy Jean and Patsy Eileen.