Loretta Lynn (born Loretta Webb on April 14, 1934) is an American country music singer-songwriter; she was one of the leading country vocalists and songwriters during the 1960s and 1970s and is revered as a country icon.
Lynn ruled the charts during the '60s and '70s, racking up over 70 hits as a solo artist and a duet partner.
With an impoverished upbringing, a devoted yet troubled marriage, chronic illness and exhaustion due to her hectic pace, and several tragedies through the years, Lynn's own life often provided the grist for her popular tunes. Her best-selling 1976 autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, was made into a hit Oscar-winning film starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones.
Although she was out of the loop for a few years while taking care of her husband, who died in 1996, Lynn returned to touring in 1998. In 2000, she released her first album since 1988 to contain original solo material.[2] Loretta Lynn has acquired sixteen Number 1 country hits over the course of her career, as both a solo and duet artist.