April 14, 1932
Loretta is the second of eight children born to father Tedd Webb and mother Clara Marie. They raise their family in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky.
1940s
1948
At the age of 15, Loretta marries Oliver Lynn (1926–1996), who also goes by nicknames “Doo,” “Doolittle” and “Mooney”. Doo leaves Loretta temporarily when she becomes pregnant. After reconciling, the couple moves to the state of Washington. Their daughter Betty Sue is born.
1949
Son Jack Benny is born to Loretta and Doo.
1950s
1951
Son Ernest Ray is born to Loretta and Doo.
1952
Daughter Clara Marie (Cissy) is born to Loretta and Doo.
1959
Loretta begins performing and writing songs. Her father, Ted, dies.
1960s
1960
Loretta appears on the Buck Owens show in Tacoma, WA. Forms her own band called Loretta’s Trail Blazers, playing at Bill’s Tavern six nights every week.
Records “Honky Tonk Girl” (B side: “Whispering Sea”) on Zero Records. It enters the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts at number 28 and eventually reaches number 14.
Appears on the Grand Ole Opry on October 15.
Begins working with the Wilburn Brothers.
Signs with the label Decca Records; works with producer Owen Bradley.
1961
Moves to Nashville, TN.
Dedicates a song to Patsy Cline on Ernest Tubb’s Midnite Jamboree, after Cline’s car accident.
1962
Loretta becomes a member of the Grand Ole Opry and begins to tour. She releases her first Decca single, “Success”.
1963
Lynn’s first album, Loretta Lynn Sings, reaches number two on the Billboard Country charts.
1964
Partners with Ernest Tubb for several recordings and live performances; theirs are among the first of a string of country music partnerships through the 1960s and 1970s.
Releases “Wine, Women, and Song.”
Twins Patsy and Peggy are born to Loretta and Doo.
1966
Releases “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” (#1); “You Ain’t Woman Enough (to Take My Man)” (#2).
“Dear Uncle Sam” reaches the Top Ten, the first of her own compositions to do so.
Loretta and Doo buy Hurricane Mills and move the family in. When the children have grown, the Lynns turn the ranch into a tourist attraction around their plantation home that includes museums, a recording studio, concert venue, and western store.
1967
Loretta wins CMA award for Female Vocalist of the Year.
1968
Releases “Fist City” (Number 1), a song Lynn wrote about another woman who was interested in Lynn’s husband.
1969
Releases “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
1970s
1970
Loretta breaks partnership with the Wilburns and forms her own publishing company.
1971
Organizes a benefit for coal miners’ families after an explosion at Hyden mine.
Releases “I Wanna Be Free”; “One’s on the Way.”
Loretta partners with singer-songwriter Conway Twitty (1933 – 1993) for several recordings and live performances; the due produces 11 albums, five number 1 songs, and the partnership lasts until 1988.
1972
Loretta wins big at the Country Music Association Awards. She is the first woman to be awarded Entertainer of the Year by the CMA, and also wins Female Vocalist of the Year, and Vocal Duo of the Year with Conway Twitty. The duo of Lynn and Twitty will go on to win the award every year through 1975.
Lynn and Twitty win the Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo/Group.
Lynn releases “One’s On the Way.”
1973
Releases “Rated X,” “Hey Loretta,” “Love is the Foundation.”
June 18: Appears on the cover of Newsweek.
Wins CMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year.
1974
Wins CMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year.
1975
Releases “The Pill,” and “When the Tingle Becomes a Chill.” “The Pill,” about birth control, is banned by 60 radio stations across the U.S., leading it to become an underground hit, selling up to 15,000 copies per week.
Loretta wins CMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year.
With Conway Twitty, wins The American Music Award for Favorite Country Band/Duo Group, which they also win in 1977 and 1978.
1976
Loretta’s Coal Miner’s Daughter autobiography is released.
1977
Releases I Remember Patsy, an album dedicated to Patsy Cline.
1980s
1980
Coal Miner’s Daughter film is released, starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn; Tommy Lee Jones as “Doo” Lynn, Loretta’s husband.
1981
Loretta’s mother, Clara Marie, dies.
1982
Releases “I Lie,” one of her main hits from the decade.
1984
Son Jack Benny dies in a drowning accident.
1988
Loretta is inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
1989
Loretta performs at President George Bush’s inauguration with her daughter Cissy and sisters Crystal Gayle and Peggy Sue.
1990s
1993
Releases Honky Tonk Angels with Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette.
1995:
Host television series Loretta Lynn and Friends, which features country music stars.
1996:
Husband Doo dies from diabetes-related complications.
1997:
Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
2000s
2000
Releases Still Country.
2002
Writes second autobiography, Still Woman Enough.
2003
Awarded the Kennedy Center Honors.
2004
Releases Van Lear Rose with Jack White. It reaches number two on the Billboard charts.
2005
Van Lear Rose wins Grammys for Best Country Album and Best Country Collaboration.
2010s
2010
Receives a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Tribute album, Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn is released, featuring Sheryl Crow, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, and others.
CMA recognizes Loretta Lynn for 50 years in country music.
Loretta reaches 59 entries on the Billboard Country Album chart and performs as part of the Lilith Fair line-up.
2012
Releases book, Honky Tonk Girl: My Life in Lyrics.
2013
Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Daughter Betty Sue dies from emphysema.
2014
Signs a multi-album deal with Legacy Recordings (Sony Music); includes country standards, gospel, Appalachian folk songs, re-recordings of Lynn’s classics, and new material (over 90 songs).
2016
Full Circle — Lynn’s first new studio album in over ten years, and American Masters – Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl both premiere on March 4.
