Tammy Wynette

Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) 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.

Tammy Wynette
Wynette in 1971
Background information
Birth nameVirginia Wynette Pugh[1]
Also known asFirst Lady of Country Music
Born(1942-05-05)May 5, 1942
Tremont, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedApril 6, 1998(1998-04-06) (aged 55)
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Years active1966–1998
Labels
Associated acts
Websitetammywynette.com

Wynette was called the "First Lady of Country Music", and her best-known song is "Stand by Your Man." 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 number-one 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.

Wynette's marriage to country music singer George Jones in 1969 created a country music supercouple, following the earlier success of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Though they divorced in 1975, the couple recorded a series of albums and singles together that hit the charts throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

Early years

Wynette was born near Tremont, Mississippi, the only child of Mildred Faye (née Russell; 1921–1991) and William Hollice Pugh (1916–1943).[2][3] Her father was a farmer and local musician who died of a brain tumor when Wynette was nine months old. Her mother worked in an office, as a substitute school teacher, and on the family farm. At Pugh's death, Mildred left her daughter in the care of her parents, Thomas and Flora Russell, and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to work in a defense plant during World War II. In 1946, Mildred married Foy Lee, a farmer.[1] By 1954, Wynette's mother was working at University Dry Cleaners, on North McLean Boulevard in Memphis, a business run by Carney Moore. Three young men often used the upstairs area to rehearse their music, and the 13 year old Wynette Pugh would delight in being bundled into the laundry tubs and wheeled around by them. They were Bill Black, Scotty Moore ( Carney's brother ) and a certain Elvis Presley.

The Russell home had no indoor toilets or running water. Wynette was raised with an aunt, Carolyn Russell, who was only five years older, more like a sister than an aunt. As a girl, Wynette taught herself to play a variety of musical instruments her father had left behind.[4]

Wynette attended Tremont High School, class of 1960, where she was a star basketball player.[5] A month before graduation, several months before her 18th birthday, she wed her first husband, Euple Byrd. He was a construction worker, but had trouble keeping a job, and they moved several times. Wynette worked as a waitress, a receptionist, and a barmaid, and also in a shoe factory. In 1963, she attended beauty college in Tupelo, Mississippi, where she learned to be a hairdresser. She continued to renew her cosmetology license every year for the rest of her life – just in case she ever had to go back to a daily job.[6]

She left Euple before the birth of their third daughter, who developed spinal meningitis. Wynette tried to earn extra money by performing at night. Euple did not support her ambition to become a country singer, and according to Wynette, as she drove away he told her, "Dream on, Baby". Years later, he appeared at one of her concerts as she was signing autographs and asked for one. She signed it "Dream on, Baby."[7]

Musical career

Early career

While working as a hairdresser in Midfield, Alabama, in 1965, Wynette sang on the Country Boy Eddie Show on WBRC-TV in Birmingham, which led to performances with country music star Porter Wagoner. In 1966, she moved with her three daughters (Gwen, Tina, and Jackie) from Birmingham to Nashville, Tennessee, in hopes of landing a recording deal. After being turned down repeatedly she auditioned for Epic Records producer Billy Sherrill. Initially reluctant to sign her, Sherrill found himself in need of a singer for a tune written by Bobby Austin and Johnny Paycheck, "Apartment No. 9". Upon hearing Wynette's version he was impressed and put her under contract.[8]

Wynette's first single, "Apartment No. 9" , was released in December 1966, and just missed the top 40 on the Country charts, peaking at number 44. It was followed by "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad", which became a big hit, peaking at number three. The song launched a string of top-ten hits that ran through the end of the 1970s, interrupted only by three singles that didn't crack the Top Ten. After "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad" was a success, "My Elusive Dreams", a duet with David Houston, became her first number one in the summer of 1967, followed by "I Don't Wanna Play House" later that year.[4] "I Don't Wanna Play House" won Wynette a Grammy award in 1967 for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, one of two wins for Wynette in that category.[9]

During 1968 and 1969, Wynette had five number-one hits: "Take Me to Your World", "D-I-V-O-R-C-E", "Stand by Your Man" (all 1968), "Singing My Song", and "The Ways to Love a Man" (both 1969).[4] "Stand by Your Man" was reportedly written in the Epic studio in just 15 minutes by Billy Sherrill and Wynette.[10]

Wynette on the set of The Johnny Cash Show in 1971

During the early 1970s, Wynette, along with singer Loretta Lynn, ruled the country charts and was one of the most successful female vocalists of the genre. During the early 1970s, number-one singles included "He Loves Me All the Way", "Run Woman Run" and "The Wonders You Perform" (all from 1970), "Good Lovin' (Makes it Right)", "Bedtime Story" (both 1971) "My Man (Understands)", "'Til I Get it Right" (1972), and "Kids Say the Darndest Things" (1973). One of them, "The Wonders You Perform", was a hit in Italy in 1971, thanks to Ornella Vanoni, who recorded the song in an Italian version, "Domani è un altro giorno" ("Tomorrow is another day"). Concurrent to her solo success, a number of her duets with fellow country singer George Jones reached the top ten on the U.S. country singles charts during this time, including "The Ceremony" (1972), "We're Gonna Hold On" (1973), and "Golden Ring" (1976). In 1968, Wynette became the second female vocalist to win the Country Music Association Awards' "Female Vocalist of the Year" award, later winning an additional two other times (1969, 1970). For nearly two decades, Wynette held the record for most consecutive wins, until 1987 when Reba McEntire won the award for the fourth consecutive time.[11]

Tammy Wynette divorced her second husband, Don Chapel (1931-2015) in 1968. Tammy married George Jones on February 16, 1969, in Ringgold, Georgia. They were married for six years, residing in south Lakeland, Florida, until their divorce, which was finalized on March 21, 1975. Even after their 1975 divorce (due largely to Jones' alcoholism), their professional collaboration continued with regularity through 1980; years later in 1995, they made a reunion album entitled One. It was well received, although it did not achieve their earlier chart success. Jones and Wynette had one daughter together, Tamala Georgette, born in 1970. Georgette Jones has, in recent years, become a successful country music artist who frequently pays tribute to her mother at her shows.[12][13][14]

Later career

Wynette recorded a song with the British group The KLF in late 1991 titled "Justified and Ancient (Stand by the JAMs)", which became a No. 1 hit in eighteen countries the following year,[15] and reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.

In 1992, future First Lady Hillary Clinton said during a 60 Minutes interview "I'm not sitting here as some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette".[16] The end of this quotation has also appeared as "some little woman, standing by my man and baking cookies, like Tammy Wynette." However, the reference to cookie baking more likely comes from an unrelated remark by Hillary Clinton: "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession which I entered before my husband was in public life."[17] The remark set off a firestorm of controversy. Wynette wrote to Clinton, saying, "With all that is in me, I resent your caustic remark. I believe you have offended every true country-music fan and every person who has made it on their own with no one to take them to the White House."[18]

Personal life

Marriages and children

Wynette was married five times: to Euple Byrd (married April 1960 – divorced 1966), with whom she had three daughters; to Don Chapel, born Lloyd Franklin Amburgey (m. 1967 – annulled 1968); to George Jones (m. February 16, 1969 – divorced March 21, 1975); to Michael Tomlin (m. July 18, 1976 – a. September 1976) 44 days; and to singer-songwriter George Richey (m. July 6, 1978 – her death April 6, 1998). Richey was her manager throughout much of the 1980s. In her autobiography Stand By Your Man, Wynette claimed Jones used to beat her and at one point fired a shotgun at her, allegations he denied.[19] In the mid-1970s, Wynette was linked romantically with actor Burt Reynolds[20] and they were good friends up to Wynette's sudden death.

Wynette had three children with Byrd; she gave birth to two daughters by the time she was 20. Gwendolyn Lee ("Gwen") Byrd (born April 15, 1961), Jacquelyn Faye ("Jackie") Byrd (born August 2, 1962) and Tina Denise Byrd (born March 27, 1965). According to Tammy's autobiography Stand by Your Man, Tina was born three months prematurely, and spent her first three months in an incubator. Tina weighed an estimated two pounds at birth. She was not quite five pounds when she arrived home at three months old, and was home for only three weeks when a relative whom Tammy lived with at the time said "Every time I try to pick her up, she screams in pain and I think it's her back." Tina was diagnosed with spinal meningitis, and was given a slim chance to live through it. Tina spent two and a half weeks in an isolation room and finally after 17 days was taken off the quarantine list. She spent seven weeks in the hospital overcoming all odds. All the doctors, nurses everyone in the hospital called her the "Miracle Baby". Tina, in 1975, is featured on one of Jones and Wynette's duet albums, George and Tammy and Tina. She appeared on two songs "The Telephone Call" with George and "No Charge" with her mom, Tammy.

Wynette also had a daughter with George Jones, Tamala Georgette Jones (born October 5, 1970), who is also a country singer. George Jones legally adopted Tammy's oldest daughters Gwen, Jackie and Tina shortly after Jones and Wynette got married.[21]

Alleged kidnapping

Wynette was reported to be kidnapped at gunpoint at a Nashville shopping mall on October 4, 1978. She claimed the masked attacker physically assaulted and abandoned her 80 miles (130 km) south of Nashville. Wynette was documented with bruises and a broken cheekbone. One of Wynette's children, Jackie Daly, in her 2000 memoir, published that her mother had confessed to her that the kidnapping was a hoax to cover up domestic violence from her fifth husband, George Richey. He denied the allegation.[22] While the kidnapping's events remained ambiguous, Wynette's children later sued Richey, along with Care Solutions of Nashville and Wynette's doctor, for their mother's wrongful death; however, they subsequently dismissed the suit against Richey, a court dismissed Care Solutions, and they reached a confidential settlement with the doctor.[23]

Health problems

Wynette had many serious physical ailments beginning in the 1970s. She had at least 26 major surgeries during her lifetime. Although some of these problems were very serious, Wynette was still able to pursue her singing career and regularly toured to promote her work. In October 1970, after giving birth to Georgette, Wynette had an appendectomy and a hysterectomy. Complications from the hysterectomy included adhesions which later formed into keloids. She developed a chronic inflammation of the bile duct and was intermittently hospitalized, from 1970 until her death on April 6, 1998.[12] During her brief marriage to Michael Tomlin, she was in the hospital for half of their time together as a couple, including surgeries on her gallbladder, kidney and on the nodules on her throat.

Wynette also developed a serious addiction to painkiller medication in the 1980s, which became quite a problem in her life during that time.[24] However, in 1986, she sought help, entering the Betty Ford Center for drug treatment that year. In spite of the time away for treatment, she joined the cast of the CBS now-defunct soap opera Capitol on March 25, 1986, playing the role of a hair stylist-turned-singer, Darlene Stankowski.[25]

Just after Christmas 1993, Wynette woke in the middle of the night with severe pain and was rushed to The Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. She was comatose five days as a result of a bile duct infection. Once she was out of the coma she underwent an intestinal bypass operation. She resumed touring not long afterwards.

Pamela Lansden of People quoted Wynette's personal spin on life's tribulations as "The sad part about happy endings is there's nothing to write about."[12]

Death

After years of medical problems[26] that resulted in numerous hospitalizations, roughly 26 major operations and an addiction to pain medication, Wynette died on April 6, 1998, at the age of 55 while sleeping on her couch in her Nashville, Tennessee, home.[27] Wynette's doctor from Pennsylvania said she died of a blood clot in her lung. Despite her persistent illnesses, she continued to perform until shortly before her death and had other performances scheduled.

A public memorial service, attended by about 1,500 people, was held at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium on April 9, 1998. A private, grave-side service had been held earlier with a crypt entombment at Nashville's Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery.[28] Her death elicited reactions such as that of songwriter Bill Mack, quoted in the Dallas Morning News, who said she was a "class act" and "irreplaceable" and that "she never knew a flat note." Lee Ann Womack was quoted also; she said of Wynette, whose songs often evoked strength and controlled passion, "You knew she knew what she was singing about. You can put her records on and listen and learn so much." Wynette was survived by her husband George Richey, four daughters and eight grandchildren.[12]

In April 1999, her body was exhumed from her crypt in an attempt to settle a dispute over how she died.[26] A new autopsy was conducted on her a week after three of her daughters filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her doctor and her husband/manager, George Richey, claiming they were responsible for her death 12 months earlier. The coroner declared she died from cardiac arrhythmia.[29][30] In May 1999, George Richey was dropped from the wrongful death lawsuit.[23] Wynette was reinterred in the Woodlawn Cross Mausoleum, at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee.[31]

In March 2012, the name on Wynette's tomb was changed from "Tammy Wynette" to "Virginia W. Richardson", her final legal married name.[32] In March 2014, the name on the tomb was changed back.[33]

In 2010 the State of Mississippi passed a law declaring a segment of Mississippi Highway 23 to be designated the Tammy Wynette Memorial Highway. The 17-mile (27 km) stretch of road is in Itawamba County, where Wynette was born in 1942.[34][35]

Discography
Main articles: Tammy Wynette albums discography and Tammy Wynette singles discography
See also: George Jones and Tammy Wynette discography

Studio albums

Awards and nominations
Main article: List of awards received by Tammy Wynette

See also

References
  1. Wynette & Dew (1979), pp. 13–18, 34.
  2. "Mildred Faye Russell Lee". Find a Grave. November 10, 2003. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  3. "William Hollice Pugh". Find a Grave. September 21, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  4. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Tammy Wynette: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  5. "Tammy Wynette".
  6. Gliatto, Tom (April 20, 1998). "Heroine of Hardship". People. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  7. Wynette & Dew (1979), p. 83.
  8. Wynette & Dew (1979), p. 102.
  9. Whitburn (2009), p. 1079.
  10. Stand by Your Man (p. 189)
  11. Whitburn (2009), p. 639.
  12. "Tammy Wynette Biography". Musician Guide. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  13. Dew, Joan (1977). Singers and Sweethearts: The Women of Country Music. Garden City, New York: Dolphin Books. ISBN 978-0-38512-595-6.
  14. Blount, Roy (March 1, 1977). "Country's Angels". Esquire. pp. 62–66, 124–132. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  15. Pareles, Jon (April 7, 1998). "Tammy Wynette, Country Singer Known for 'Stand by Your Man', Is Dead at 55". The New York Times. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  16. Gilbert, Calvin (April 18, 2003). "Political Controversies Found Wynette and McGraw". Country Music Television. Archived from the original on March 5, 2008. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  17. Judd, Jackie (March 26, 1992). "Making Hillary Clinton An Issue". Nightline. PBS. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  18. Quotation from a combination of partial quotations reported in Newsweek, vol. 131, No. 16, April 20, 1998, p. 59, and in The New York Times, April 7, 1998, p. A–24.
  19. Harris, Jake (December 13, 2015). "Looking Back on George Jones and Tammy Wynette's Marriage". Wide Open Country. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  20. "Tammy Wynette: The 'Tragic Country Queen'". Weekend Edition Sunday. March 14, 2010. NPR. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  21. "Home". Georgette Jones. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007.
  22. Betts, Stephen L.; Crawford, Robert; McKenna, Brittney; Gage, Jeff (September 7, 2017). "Horses, Guns and Drugs: Country Music's 10 Wildest Stories". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  23. "Suit Over Wynette's Death Resolved". Billboard. April 19, 2002. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  24. McDonough, Jimmy (February 2011). Tammy Wynette: Tragic Country Queen. Penguin Group USA. ISBN 978-0-14-311888-6.
  25. "Tammy Wynette joined the cast of the CBS soap". TammyWynette.tumblr.com. March 24, 2011. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  26. Chang, Yahlin (April 19, 1999). "Country Music Mystery". Newsweek. Vol. 133, no. 16. p. 62.
  27. Staff 7/8/2003, CMT com. "Tammy Wynette Dies At 55". CMT News. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  28. "Tammy Wynette Eulogized by Fellow Singers". The New York Times. April 10, 1998. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  29. Cossar, Neil (May 4, 2011). "This Day in Music, May 5: Tammy Wynette and Elvis Presley". The Morton Report. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  30. "Tammy Wynette Autopsy Report: Report of Investigation by County Medical Examiner" (PDF). Autopsyfiles.org. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  31. Morris, Edward (May 9, 2012). "Tammy Wynette's Stepdaughter Says Singer's Children Agreed on Name Switch". Country Music Television. Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  32. Morris, Edward (March 5, 2012). "Tammy Wynette's Name Removed From Her Nashville Tomb". Country Music Television. Archived from the original on December 20, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  33. Book, Ryan (March 24, 2014). "Tammy Wynette's grave once again features performer's stage name". The Music Times. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
  34. "Miss. Tweaks name of highway for Tammy Wynette".
  35. "2016 Mississippi Code :: Title 65 - Highways, Bridges and Ferries :: Chapter 3 - State Highway System :: Special Designations of Portions of Highway System and Bridges (§§ 65-3-38 - 65-3-71.265) :: § 65-3-71.151".

Bibliography
  • Bufwack, Mary A. (1998). "Tammy Wynette". In Kingsbury, Paul (ed.). The Encyclopedia of Country Music. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 602–603. ISBN 978-0-19517-608-7.
  • Wynette, Tammy; Dew, Joan (October 1979). Stand by Your Man. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-22884-2.
  • Whitburn, Joel (2009). Billboard Top Pop Singles (12th ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. ISBN 978-0-89820-180-2.
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