Tammy Wynette

In 1960, she married Euple Byrd, a construction worker, at 17. The couple had three daughters – Gwendolyn Lee Byrd (1961), Jacquelyn Faye Byrd (1962), and Tina Denise Byrd (1965). The two divorced in 1966.

She married country singer, Don Chapel, in 1967, but divorced him in 1968.

She married her third husband George Jones in 1969, who legally adopted her three daughters. The couple had a daughter, Tamala Georgette Jones, in 1970.

Tammy Wynette was born as Virginia Wynette Pugh on May 5, 1942, in Tremont, Itawamba County, Mississippi, to a farmer and local musician William Hollice Pugh and Mildred Faye Pugh.

Her father died of brain tumor when she was just eight months old, after which she was left at her maternal grandparents’ home, while her mother relocated to Memphis to work in a defense plant during Second World War.

She got familiar with different musical instruments while spending her childhood with sharecropper grandparents. She completed her schooling from Tremont High School.

In 1963, she enrolled in American Beauty College in Birmingham, Alabama, to become a hairdresser.

Initially, she took up various blue-collar jobs, such as receptionist, waitress, barmaid, and factory worker to support her family.

She worked as a hairdresser and beautician, but later took up nightclub singing to earn extra money for her daughter, Tina, who suffered from spinal meningitis.

In 1965, she debuted on television with WBRC-TV’s ‘Country Boy Eddie Show’, after which she performed on ‘The Porter Wagoner Show’.

She relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1966 and successfully auditioned for producer Billy Sherrill, after being rejected by almost all recording companies.

She recorded her debut single ‘Apartment No. 9’ in December 1966. ‘Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad’ released in early 1967 and reached No. 3. Subsequently, ‘My Elusive Dream’s and ‘I Don’t Wanna Play House’ rose to top spots.

Her 1969 single ‘Stand By Your Man’ topped the country charts and reached No. 19 on Billboard pop charts, eventually becoming the best-selling single by a woman in the history of country music.

Her solo career graph shot up during 1970s when she recorded No. 1 singles regularly - ‘He Loves Me All the Way’ (1970), ‘Run Woman, Run’ (1970), ‘Bedtime Story’ (1972), ‘My Man’ (1972), and ‘Til’ I Get It Right (1973).

In 1976, she recorded ‘Til I Can Make It on My Own’, said to be based on her recent divorce from Jones, which became one of her signature songs, topping the US country single charts and reaching No. 84 on pop single charts.