Country music queen Loretta Lynn, affectionately known as the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” passed away today at the age of 90.
Her family issues a press statement that stated that she died Tuesday at her home in Tennessee.
According to CNN, the statement read, “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 asked for privacy as they grieve their loss, and noted that a memorial will be announced at a later time.
Loretta Lynn has long been established as the undisputed “Queen of Country Music,” with more than five decades of recording and touring to her credit. A self-taught guitarist and songwriter, Lynn was one of the most distinctive performers in Nashville in the 1960s and 1970s.
She shook up Nashville by writing her own songs, many of which tackled boundary-pushing topics drawn from her own life experiences as a wife and mother. “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Fist City” and “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” are just three of 16 country No. 1 singles.
She is also one of the most awarded musicians of all time. Lynn has been inducted into more music Halls of Fame than any female recording artist, including the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and was the first woman to be named the Country Music Association’s “Entertainer of the Year” in 1972.
Lynn subsequently received Kennedy Center Honors in 2003 and a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. In 2015, she was named the recipient of Billboard’s inaugural Women in Music “Legend” Award. Lynn has won four Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010) and sold more than 45 million records worldwide.
A groundbreaking singer, songwriter, and performer, Loretta Lynn is an archetype of American music, a singular artist whose music defined a genre and whose songs continue to inform new generations of musicians.
