Wynette, Tammy (1942-1998)

US country singer and songwriter. A prolific country artist, she had 20 number-one hits on the US country music charts but is best known for her singles ‘Stand By Your Man’ (1968), which became country music's best-selling single by a woman, and ‘D-I-V-O-R-C-E’ (1968), for which she won a Grammy Award. Most of her songs are autobiographical, centering around married life and family relationships.

She also had many collaborative successes, including with US country singer George Jones (to whom she was married 1968-75)), the British pop group KLF in the early 1990s, and with US country singers Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn in 1993. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame posthumously in 1998.

Wynette was born in Itawamba County, near Tupelo, Mississippi. She moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1965, and worked in a beauty salon, but soon had appearances on television's The Country Boy Eddie Show and The Porter Wagoner Show. She moved to Nashville in 1966 and signed with Epic Records the following year.