The country music world’s heart is broken because Loretta Lynn is dead. The legendary singer, who turned 90 in April, passed away Oct. 4 after a long battle with numerous health issues, including a debilitating stroke in 2017 and a broken hip in 2018, which ended her touring career. News of the “Coal Miner Daughter” singer’s death came via a statement from her rep to TMZ.
Loretta’s rep confirmed that the 90-year-old was at home in Tennessee when she died of natural causes. She was surrounded by family members when she died, as well. Loretta was married to Oliver Lynn for nearly 50 years when he died in 1996. They had six children together, but only four were living at the time of Loretta’s death.
Three years before she passed, Radar Online reported that Loretta’s health was failing and the country music icon was spending her final days in an assisted living facility in 2019. She reportedly needed either a walker or a wheelchair to get around, and her vision was “compromised.” Many of her famous friends were given notice about her worsening condition and reportedly made the trek to pay their respects and say their final farewells. The singer hadn’t gone on a major tour since breaking her hip in 2017. Despite reported health troubles, Loretta still released another studio album, her 50th, in March 2021. The record, called Still Woman Enough, boasted collaborations with many other country greats like Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, Tanya Tucker, and Margo Price.
Loretta Lynn (née Webb) was born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky on April 14, 1932. The second of eight children, Loretta developed a love of singing while performing in church as a young girl. She was clearly raised in a musical household as three of her siblings – Crystal Gayle, Peggy Sue Wright, and Willie “Jay” Lee Webb – would also find success in country music. After marrying Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn in 1948, she relocated to Washington State while she was pregnant with the first of their seven children. While he worked in logging camps, she took care of their four children–Betty Sue, Jack Benny, Ernest Ray, 67 and Clara Marie, 69, (twins Peggy Jean and Patsy Eileen, 57, would be born in 1964). With her husband’s encouragement, Loretta pursued singing by performing at local venues. She cut her first single, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl,” in early 1960, launching a career that would span over five decades.
She topped the charts with “Don’t Come Home A Drinkin’ (with Lovin’ On Your Mind),” per Biography.com, and followed it with the track that would be her signature song: “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” While a successful solo artist, Loretta will also be remembered for her work with the late Conway Twitty. She won her first Grammy in 1972 for the duet, “After the Fire Is Gone,” and they would team up for songs like “Lead Me On,” “As Soon As I Hang Up The Phone” and “I Can’t Love You Enough.”
Loretta would write more than 160 songs, released over 70 albums, and sell more than 45 million records worldwide. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, the Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999, and President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
She remained married to Oliver until his death in 1996. Her son Jack Benny died at age 34 in 1984 while attempting to ford a river near the family’s Tennessee ranch. Her daughter Betty Sue died from emphysema in 2013 at age 64. Loretta is survived by her siblings, her children, and her many grandchildren.