Tammy Wynette

1942 - 1998

Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998)[1][2] was an American country music singer-songwriter and musician and was one of country music's best-known artists and biggest-selling female singers during the late 1960s and first half of the 1970s.

Wynette was called the "First Lady of Country Music", and her best-known song is "Stand by Your Man", which she co-wrote. Many of her hits dealt with themes of loneliness, divorce, and the difficulties of life and relationships. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Wynette charted 20 No. 1 songs on the Billboard Country Chart. Along with Loretta Lynn, Lynn Anderson, and Dolly Parton, she is credited with having defined the role of women in country music during the 1970s.

A one-time hairdresser from rural Mississippi who rose to stardom, Wynette recorded 39 country Top 10 hits and sold 30 million records.[3] She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998,[4] the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009,[5] the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 1993[6] and the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience Hall of Fame in 2019.[7] She won two Grammy Awards[8] out of a total of 16 nominations.[9] Her recording of "Stand By Your Man" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999[10] and was added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2010.[11] She was three times named female vocalist of the year in the Country Music Association Awards. She was given the American Music Awards Award of Merit, given to artists "who have made truly exceptional contributions to the music industry,"[12] in 1996.[13] Her recording of "Stand by Your Man" was ranked as No. 473 on Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time",[14] and her recording of "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" ranked as No. 69 on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time".[15] Country Music Television ranked Wynette No. 2 on its list of "40 Greatest Women of Country Music" in 2002.[16]

Wynette's 1969 marriage to George Jones, himself a future Country Music Hall of Fame inductee,[18] created a country music supercouple, following the earlier success of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Though they divorced in 1975, Wynette and Jones recorded a series of albums and singles together that hit the charts throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

Prominent music critic Jon Pareles wrote in Wynette's New York Times obituary., "She ... became the standard-bearer of an elaborately orchestrated Nashville sound, with pedal steel guitars underlined by strings and backup choruses." [17]