The Kentucky native was one of the first women to rise to the top of her genre in the United States, in the 1960s and 1970s.
Loretta Lynn, American country music legend whom she largely influenced by her lyrics, died Tuesday at the age of 90, her family announced in a press release sent to AFP. The Kentucky native was one of the first women to rise to the top of her genre in the United States, in the 1960s and 1970s, by evoking more openly than ever before the sexuality and intimate life of women of her time.
“Our dear mother Loretta Lynn died peacefully this morning, October 4, in her sleep at her ranch in Hurricane Millsin Tennessee, writes his family. Several of his titles had been banned by some country radio stations, but that did not prevent some of his songs from becoming classics of a particularly popular style in the country.
A self-taught singer, born into a poor family and the eldest of eight siblings, Loretta Lynn drew inspiration for her lyrics from her childhood (“I was born the daughter of a miner…), of her own experiences as a newlywed and the tumults of her romantic relationship. His 1966 hit You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man) went straight to the top of the charts and made her the first country singer to write a number one hit. The same year, she had written with Dear Uncle Sam one of the first titles evoking the tragedy of the Vietnam War.
Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, she has won countless artistic honors, including the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, presented by Barack Obama in 2013. In 2021, a month before she was 89, she had released the album Still Woman Enough, which included re-recordings and new material.
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