The legendary singer-songwriter died in her sleep at home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee on October 4, her publicist said in a statement.
“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 said in a statement.
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Lynn already had four children before launching her career in the early 1960s, and her songs reflected her pride in her rural Kentucky background.
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The daughter of a coal miner, as she’d later sing on “Coal Miner’s Daughter”
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Lynn released, by her count, 50 solo albums across a six-decade career.
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She married and moved to Washington, where she’d begin performing.
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After writing and recording her first single, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl,” she moved to Nashville, where she found success with songs from a distinctly female perspective.
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Her first of 16 country No. 1s was “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind).”
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Her other hits included “Fist City,” about a cheating husband; “One’s on the Way,” about women’s parenting burdens; and “The Pill,” about birth control.
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Her honesty also extended to songs like “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” the 1970 No. 1 that later inspired the Oscar-winning 1980 movie of the same name.
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She became a music star after growing up in rural poverty
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First woman named country music’s entertainer of the year