Country Legend Loretta Lynn Has Passed Away At 90

The country music world is mourning the loss of legend Loretta Lynn who has passed away at the age of 90.

“Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, Oct. 4, in her sleep at home in her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills,” her family said in a statement.

Lynn celebrated her 90th birthday earlier this in April and was celebrated with a new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in August. While she was not well enough to attend, her daughter Patsy Lynn Russell went in her honor.

Married at 13 to a moonshine runner nine years her senior, Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, Loretta was the mother of four by the time she turned 18. She started writing songs on a $17 guitar her husband bought her and singing in honkytonks to make extra money.

In 1960, Loretta Lynn signed her first record deal and released her first single, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl.” A string of Top Ten hits followed: “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind),” “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man),” “Fist City.” Many were inspired by her own marital woes.

In 1972, Lynn became the Country Music Association’s first Female Entertainer of the Year, and in 2003, when she received the Kennedy Center Honor, President George H.W. Bush called her “a national treasure.”
Loretta and “Doo” were married from 1948 until his death in 1996. They had six children, the eldest of whom, son Jack, died in a drowning accident in 1984. Of Lynn’s seven siblings, the most famous is singer crystal Gayle. Besides those survivors, Loretta also had several grandchildren.