As of: 10/04/2022 5:49 p.m
She was one of the most successful and influential artists in country music – at the age of 90 the singer Loretta Lynn died in the USA. Her career began in the 1960s.
The singer and songwriter was considered the grand old lady of country music: she was one of the most successful and influential artists in the genre, was awarded many prizes and continued to perform into old age, but recently also had to struggle with health problems.
Her biggest hits came in the ’60s and ’70s, including “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, “You Ain’t Woman Enough”, “Rated X” and “You’re Looking at Country”.
On November 20, 2013, then-US President Barack Obama presented Loretta Lynn with the Presidential Medal of Freedom – one of the highest civilian honors in the United States.
Image: AP
Contrasting with the stereotype of a country singer
Lynn was born in 1932 as Loretta Webb in the US state of Kentucky, the daughter of a coal miner – which earned her the nickname “Coal Miner’s Daughter”. A single of the same name made it to the top of the charts in 1970.
Lynn was known for appearing in long, baggy dresses with intricate embroidery and rhinestones. Her songs were always about life as a woman in the Appalachia. When she started her career in the early 1960s, she already had four children.
In her songs she described herself as a tough woman, wrote about sex and love, cheating husbands, divorce and contraception. Because of her lyrics, she sometimes got into trouble with radio stations that didn’t want to play her songs because of their themes.
Loretta Lynn in front of her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. The singer has won three Grammys and has been nominated 18 times for the award.
Image: AP
Lynn won multiple Grammys and as late as 2014 signed a multi-album record deal with Legacy Records. However, in 2017 she suffered a stroke and was forced to cancel her scheduled shows. Lynn was married to her husband for almost 50 years until he died in 1996. Together they had six children.