Many of us grow up listening to country music, which is also known as country and western, and hillbilly music. It is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern United States in the early 1920s. It takes its roots from genres such as American folk music and blues.
Tammy Wynette (born May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998), was a country music singer-songweriter and one of country music's best-known artists and biggest-selling female singers.
Wynette was called the "First Lady of Country Music", and her best-known song, "Stand by Your Man", is one of the best-selling hit singles by a woman in the history of country music. Many of her hits dealt with classic 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.
Wynette's marriage to country music singer George Jones in 1969 created a country music "couple", following the earlier success of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Though they divorced in 1975, the couple recorded a sequence of albums and singles together that hit the charts throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.
After years of medical problems which resulted in numerous hospitalizations, roughly 15 major operations and an addiction to pain medication, Wynette died on April 6, 1998, at the age of 55 while sleeping on her couch. Wynette's doctor from PA 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.
Wynette was reinterred in the Woodlawn Cross Mausoleum, at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee. She rests in the same cemetery as other country music luminaries as former husband, George Jones who died in April 2013.
In March 2012, the name on Wynette's tomb was changed from "Tammy Wynette" to "Virginia W. Richardson", her final legal married name. In March 2014, the name on the tomb was changed back.