The irrepressible Loretta Lynn is one of country music's best-loved performers. Her life has a storybook, rags-to-riches quality that has captivated audiences for decades, yet this same quality has sometimes masked the harsh realities and hard work undergirding her lengthy career.

She grew up in a small cabin in Butcher Holler, in the hard scrabble East Kentucky coal country, where her father, miner/farmer Ted Webb, and her mother, Clara, made their home. In a life filled with constant toil, one of the Lynns' few pleasures was listening to the Grand Ole Opry, virtually their only contact with the world beyond their home. Loretta married Doolittle Lynn (known as "Doo" or "Mooney") at 13 and had her first child at 14.

Three more children followed by the time Loretta was 18. By now the Lynns were living in Washington State, where Doo worked to support their growing family. He also encouraged Loretta to sing, bought her a guitar and helped her find work, first with a local band and then with her own group.

In 1960, Loretta recorded four songs for the small, Canadian-based Zero Records. She and Doo mailed thousands of records to radio stations and drove cross-country promoting her self-penned "Honky Tonk Girl." This record reached No. 14 on the country charts in 1960 and led to her first guest spot on the Opry that year. Two years later she joined the cast full time.

Through the Wilburn Brothers, already established Opry stars with their own TV show, booking operation and publishing company, Loretta gained valuable broadcasting exposure and a contract with Decca Records (absorbed by MCA in the early 1970s). Between 1962 and 1979 she regularly made Billboard's country Top Ten with hits like "Success," "Blue Kentucky Girl" and "One's on the Way."

Loretta's talent and independent spirit won new respect for female country stars. She wrote or co-wrote many of her hits herself, boldly expressing a woman's point of view in "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)" and "Your Squaw is on the Warpath," among others. "You're Lookin' At Country" and "Coal Miner's Daughter" voiced her pride in her country roots.

Having already recorded numerous duets with Ernest Tubb, she struck gold as Conway Twitty's duet partner in the early 1970s. "After the Fire Is Gone," "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" and other hits led the team to four consecutive CMA Vocal Duo of the Year Awards between 1972 and 1975. Loretta herself claimed the coveted CMA Entertainer of the Year Award in 1972, becoming the first woman to gain this prize.

Lynn's best-selling 1976 autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, increased her already substantial fame, as did the 1980 hit movie by the same title, starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta.