Born Virginia Wyette Pugh and raised on her grandparents’ farm near Tremont, Tammy Wynette (1942-1998) rose from local hairdresser, waitress, and after-hours singer to become one of country music’s most acclaimed performers. Born on May 5, 1942, at her maternal grandfather’s Itawamba County farmhouse, she lost her father before she was a year old and later learned to play the instruments he left behind. By age twelve she was a fan of Grand Ole Opry broadcasts, played guitar, piano, organ, and flute, sang in the church choir, and performed in a local gospel and country trio, while also working at times picking cotton on the farm. In 1959, before graduating from high school, she married Euple Byrd, and they had three children. As the family struggled financially and moved often, she attended beautician school and worked in Memphis as a beautician, waitress, and singer; by 1965 the couple was divorced. In Birmingham, Alabama, she worked as a beautician and sang on the local Country Boy Eddie television show and at other venues. In 1966 she took her three children to Nashville, where early performances brought little professional recognition until producer Billy Sherrill at Epic Records recorded her singing Johnny Paycheck’s “Apartment No. 9.” Using the stage name Tammy Wynette, she soon followed that success with the top ten hit “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad,” then reached her first number one in 1967 with “My Elusive Dreams,” a duet with David Houston, beginning a run of hits that included “Stand By Your Man,” “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” and “I Don’t Want to Play House.” With twenty No. 1 records, she became known internationally as “The First Lady of Country Music,” and during the following decade she and Loretta Lynn dominated the country charts and set a new standard for women’s stardom in the field. She married George Jones in 1969, and they had a daughter, Tamala Georgette; although they recorded popular duet albums together, they divorced in 1975. She found stability after marrying songwriter George Richey in 1978, but her health declined, and she died in April 1998. A few months later she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, leaving a legacy as one of country music’s greatest vocalists.
