Loretta Lynn, the Kentucky coal miner’s daughter who became a pillar of country music, has died.
(File photo, 2000)
Her family said she died Tuesday peacefully in her sleep at her ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.
Lynn already had four children before starting her career in the early 1960s and her songs reflected her pride in her humble background and spoke frankly of her experiences as a woman and mother in Appalachia on such hits as ”Coal Miner’s Daughter,” ”You Ain’t Woman Enough” and ”The Pill.”
Her bestselling 1976 autobiography was made into a movie, with Sissy Spacek winning an Oscar for her portrayal of Lynn and the film was also nominated for best picture.
Chosen country artist of the 1970s, Lynn was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988.