Country music queen Loretta Lynn dies aged 90

Image source, Getty Images

By Mark SavageBBC Music Correspondent

Loretta Lynn, whose songs of strength and independence made her a standard bearer for women in country music, has died aged 90.

Known as the queen of country, her songs were grounded in real-life experience, most notably on the autobiographical Coal Miner's Daughter. Home A-Drinkin', Honky Tonk Girl and feminist anthem The Pill.

Lynn's family said she died Tuesday at her home in the Tennessee.

"Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home on her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills," the family said in a statement.

They asked for privacy during their mourning and said a memorial would be announced later.

Humble beginnings

Singer was born Loretta Webb in a one-room log cabin in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky in 1932. She was the second of eight children .

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Just as she would later sing in Coal Miner's Daughter, her f...