Tammy Wynette | The American Music Award of Merit | 1996 American Music Awards
Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 - April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer-songwriter 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 23 No. 1 songs. Along with Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton, she is credited with having defined the role of women in country music during the 1970s.
Wynette's marriage to country music singer George Jones in 1969, which ended in divorce in 1975, created a country music "couple", following the earlier success of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Jones and Wynette recorded a sequence of albums and singles that hit the charts throughout the 1970s and early eighties.