Tammy Wynette

Tammy Wynette at The Johnny Cash Show in Nashville, Tennessee (1977)

Tammy Wynette [ waɪˈnɛt ] (real name Virginia Wynette Pugh; born May 5, 1942 in Itawamba County , Mississippi , † April 6, 1998 in Nashville , Tennessee ) was an American country singer . Her biggest success was Stand by Your Man from 1968.

biography

Virginia Wynette Pugh grew up with her grandparents after the early death of her father. She married at the age of 17. Shortly before the birth of the third child, she was abandoned by her husband. At that point, she was working in a beauty salon. To supplement her low salary, she occasionally sang in local clubs. Her financial problems were made worse by the severe and prolonged meningitis of her youngest child.

In 1966, Pugh went to Nashville in hopes of a career as a country singer. After a few unsuccessful attempts, she received a recording contract with the music label Epic Records . The responsible producer was Billy Sherrill , who also composed most of their songs. First her name was changed to Tammy Wynette. Her debut single Apartment Number 9 , written by Johnny Paycheck , reached a middle spot on the country charts. The next song, Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad , made it to position three.

More top ten hits followed, including some number one hits like Take Me to Your World and DIVORCE , until Stand by Your Man was released in 1968 . This controversial song, composed by Billy Sherrill, was especially feminists attacked, as the text says, a woman should at all costs keep to her husband. The song topped the country charts and hit the pop charts. In Germany, Tammy Wynette was less successful, Stand by Your Man remained her only chart success, the title reached number 36. The song reached number 19 in the US pop charts.

In 1968 Wynette married the country singer George Jones . The marriage, which had been stormy from the start, was soon weighed down by Jones' drinking problems. A positive consequence of this relationship were the numerous duets that the two recorded after their marriage in 1975. Their greatest hits together were Golden Ring and Near You from 1976.

Wynette's streak of success lasted until the early 1980s. In 1991 she took on the lead vocals for the hit single Justified and Ancient for the British electric dance band The KLF and also appeared in the accompanying video. With that she achieved a number one hit in Austria and Sweden. In total, Wynette had 20 number 1 hits and sold over 30 million records. For her album Tammy's Greatest Hits , she received a gold record in 1970 and platinum in 1989. Wynette has had numerous guest appearances on television shows and throughout her career.

Tammy Wynette's grave in the Woodlawn Memorial Park Mausoleum , Nashville, Tennessee (2010)

Wynette's life was marked by relationship problems (she was married five times in total) and illnesses, including being addicted to alcohol for a while. In 1979 she published her autobiography . Tammy Wynette died on April 6, 1998 at the age of 55. A few months later, she was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame .

Solo discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		UK	US	Country
1967	Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad	-	-	Country7 (11 weeks) Country
	My Elusive Dreams	-	-	Country11 (18 weeks) Country	with David Houston
1968	Take Me to Your World / I Don't Wanna Play House	-	-	Country3 (22 weeks) Country
1969	DIVORCE	UK- silver UK	US147 (15 weeks) US	Country1 (36 weeks) Country	First published: 1968
	Stand by Your Man	-	US43 (21 weeks) US	Country2 (36 weeks) Country
	inspiration	-	US189 (3 weeks) US	Country19 (10 weeks) Country
1970	The Ways to Love a Man	-	US83 (11 weeks) US	Country3 (36 weeks) Country
	Tammy's touch	-	US85 (17 weeks) US	Country1 (31 weeks) Country
	The first lady	-	US119 (14 weeks) US	Country2 (24 weeks) Country
1971	We Sure Can Love Each Other	-	US115 (10 weeks) US	Country8 (18 weeks) Country
	We go together	-	US169 (6 weeks) US	Country3 (30 weeks) Country
1972	Bedtime story	-	US133 (9 weeks) US	Country7 (26 weeks) Country
	My Man	-	-	Country2 (22 weeks) Country
1974	Another lonely song	-	-	Country8 (14 weeks) Country
	Woman to Woman	-	-	Country21 (19 weeks) Country
1975	I Still Believe in Fairy Tales	-	-	Country24 (10 weeks) Country
1976	'Til I Can Make It on My Own	-	-	Country3 (17 weeks) Country
	You and Me	-	-	Country4 (24 weeks) Country
1977	Let's get together	-	-	Country19 (9 weeks) Country
	One of a kind	-	-	Country32 (6 weeks) Country
1978	Womanhood	-	-	Country14 (18 weeks) Country
	Country Girl Meets Country Boy	UK43 (3 weeks) UK	-	-
1979	Just Tammy	-	-	Country25 (11 weeks) Country
1980	Only lonely sometimes	-	-	Country37 (8 weeks) Country
1982	Soft touch	-	-	Country31 (14 weeks) Country
	Good Love & Heartbreak	-	-	Country62 (4 weeks) Country
1983	Even the Strong Get Lonely	-	-	Country66 (6 weeks) Country
1985	Sometimes when we touch	-	-	Country32 (22 weeks) Country
1987	Higher ground	-	-	Country43 (55 weeks) Country
1989	Next to you	-	-	Country42 (22 weeks) Country
1990	Heart Over Mind	-	-	Country64 (18 weeks) Country
1993	Honky Tonk Angels	-	US42 gold (16 weeks)US	Country6 (24 weeks) Country	Dolly , Tammy and Loretta

More albums

• 1969: Run, Angel, Run ( Stu Phillips feat.Tammy Wynette, soundtrack to the film Run, Angel, Run )
• 1970: Tammy Wynette
• 1970: The Ways to Love a Man
• 1970: Christmas with Tammy
• 1976: The First Lady of Country
• 1976: No Charge
• 1981: It's Just a Matter of Time
• 1994: Without Walls

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		UK	US	Country
1969	Tammy's Greatest Hits	-	US37 platinum (61 weeks)US	Country2 (79 weeks) Country
1970	The World of Tammy Wynette	-	US145 (2 weeks) US	Country8 (29 weeks) Country	2 LPs
1971	The First Songs of the First Lady	-	-	Country17 (10 weeks) Country
	Tammy's Greatest Hits, Volume II	-	US118 gold (11 weeks)US	Country5 (36 weeks) Country
1973	Kids Say the Darndest Things	-	-	Country3 (20 weeks) Country
1975	Tammy Wynette's Greatest Hits Volume Three	-	-	Country28 (7 weeks) Country
	The best of	UK4th silver (22 weeks)UK	-	-
	Stand by Your Man	UK13 silver (7 weeks)UK	-	-
1977	20 Country Classics	UK3 silver (12 weeks)UK	-	-
1979	Greatest Hits Volume 4	-	-	Country37 (12 weeks) Country
1981	Encore	-	-	Country44 (3 weeks) Country
1982	Biggest hits	-	-	Country64 (3 weeks) Country
1987	Anniversary - 20 Years of Hits	UK45 silver (5 weeks)UK	-	-
2008	Stand by Your Man: The Best Of	UK23 gold (3 weeks)UK	-	-
2020	gold	UK62 (... weeks) UK	-	-

More compilations

• 1968: The Best of Tammy Wynette
• 1969: King and Queen of Country (with Johnny Cash ) (box with 4 LPs)
• 1976: The Queen
• 1976: Tammy - 20 Greatest Hits
• 1977: Her Favorite Hits
• 1978: The Best of Tammy Wynette Vol. 2
• 1979: The Classic Collection
• 1980: Queen of Country Music
• 1981: 20 greatest hits
• 1981: You Brought Me Back
• 1981: The Best of Tammy Wynette
• 1981: Country Music
• 1981: Hair greatest successen (2 LPs)
• 1982: Always Gets It Right
• 1983: Country & Western Classics (box with 3 LPs)
• 1985: Woman to Woman (Sixteen of Her Greatest Hits)
• 1987: 20 Greatest Hits of Tammy Wynette
• 1989: The Best of Tammy Wynette
• 1993: Winners
• 1996: great hits
• 1997: The Greatest Hits
• 1999: The Definitive Collection
• 1999: The Best Of
• 2000: Welcome to My World
• 2001: De fineste sangene
• 2004: American Music Legends
• 2008: Collections

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		DE	UK	US	Country
1966	Apartment No. 9 Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad	-	-	-	Country44 (9 weeks) Country
1967	Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad	-	-	-	Country3 (21 weeks) Country
	My Elusive Dreams My Elusive Dreams	-	-	US89 (5 weeks) US	Country1 (18 weeks) Country	with David Houston
	I Don't Wanna Play House Take Me to Your World / I Don't Wanna Play House	-	-	-	Country1 (20 weeks) Country
	Take Me to Your World Take Me to Your World / I Don't Wanna Play House	-	-	-	Country1 (17 weeks) Country
	It's All Over My Elusive Dreams	-	-	-	Country11 (... weeks) Country	with David Houston
1968	DIVORCE DIVORCE	-	UK12 (7 weeks) UK	US63 (6 weeks) US	Country1 (17 weeks) Country	Chart entry in UK only in 1975
	Stand by Your Man Stand by Your Man	DE36 (8 weeks) DE	UK1 gold (12 weeks)UK	US19 (16 weeks) US	Country1 (22 weeks) Country	Chart entry in DE and UK only in 1975
1969	Singing My Song The Ways To Love A Man	-	-	US75 (5 weeks) US	Country1 (14 weeks) Country
	The Ways to Love a Man The Ways To Love A Man	-	-	US81 (4 weeks) US	Country1 (16 weeks) Country
1970	I'll See Him Through Tammy’s Touch	-	-	US100 (2 weeks) US	Country2 (14 weeks) Country
	He Loves Me All the Way Tammy’s Touch	-	-	US97 (2 weeks) US	Country1 (16 weeks) Country
	Run, Woman, Run The First Lady	-	-	US92 (2 weeks) US	Country1 (15 weeks) Country
	The Wonders You Perform	-	-	-	Country5 (13 weeks) Country
1971	We Sure Can Love Each Other We Sure Can Love Each Other	-	-	-	Country2 (15 weeks) Country
	Good Lovin '(Makes It Right) Tammy's Greatest Hits, Vol. II	-	-	-	Country1 (15 weeks) Country
	Bedtime Story Bedtime Story	-	-	US86 (4 weeks) US	Country1 (14 weeks) Country
1972	Reach Out Your Hand (And Touch Somebody) Bedtime Story	-	-	-	Country2 (14 weeks) Country
	My Man (Understandings) My Man	-	-	-	Country1 (14 weeks) Country
	Til I Get It Right My Man	-	-	-	Country1 (15 weeks) Country
1973	Kids Say the Darndest Things Kids Say the Darndest Things	-	-	US72 (4 weeks) US	Country1 (17 weeks) Country
	Another Lonely Song Another Lonely Song	-	-	-	Country1 (15 weeks) Country
1974	Woman to Woman Woman to Woman	-	-	-	Country4 (16 weeks) Country
1975	(You Make Me Want to Be a) Mother Tammy Wynette's Greatest Hits, Vol. III	-	-	-	Country4 (16 weeks) Country
	I Still Believe in Fairy Tales I Still Believe in Fairy Tales	-	-	-	Country13 (13 weeks) Country
1976	'Til I Can Make It on My Own ' Til I Can Make It on My Own	-	-	US84 (5 weeks) US	Country1 (15 weeks) Country
	You and Me You and Me	-	-	-	Country1 (16 weeks) Country
	I don't wanna play house	-	UK37 (4 weeks) UK	-	-
1977	(Let's Get Together) One Last Time Let's Get Together	-	-	-	Country6 (14 weeks) Country
	One of a Kind One of a Kind	-	-	-	Country6 (15 weeks) Country
1978	(I'd Like to See Jesus) On the Midnight Special Womanhood	-	-	-	Country26 (11 weeks) Country
	Womanhood womanhood	-	-	-	Country3 (15 weeks) Country
1979	They Call It Makin 'Love Just Tammy	-	-	-	Country6 (13 weeks) Country
	No One Else in the World Just Tammy	-	-	-	Country7 (14 weeks) Country
1980	He Was There (When I Needed You) Only Lonely Sometimes	-	-	-	Country17 (14 weeks) Country
	Starting Over Only Lonely Sometimes	-	-	-	Country17 (13 weeks) Country
1981	Cowboys Don't Shoot Straight Like They Used To You Brought Me Back	-	-	-	Country21 (12 weeks) Country
	Crying in the Rain You Brought Me Back	-	-	-	Country18 (14 weeks) Country
1982	Another chance soft touch	-	-	-	Country8 (17 weeks) Country
	You Still Get to Me in My Dreams Soft Touch	-	-	-	Country16 (16 weeks) Country
	A Good Night's Love, Good Love and Heartbreak	-	-	-	Country19 (15 weeks) Country
1983	I Just Heard a Heart Break (And I'm So Afraid It's Mine) Good Love and Heartbreak	-	-	-	Country46 (9 weeks) Country
	Unwed Fathers Even the Strong Get Lonely	-	-	-	Country63 (7 weeks) Country
	Still in the Ring Even the Strong Get Lonely	-	-	-	Country63 (6 weeks) Country
1984	Lonely Heart	-	-	-	Country40 (15 weeks) Country
1985	Sometimes When We Touch Sometimes When We Touch	-	-	-	Country6 (22 weeks) Country	with Mark Gray
	You Can Lead a Heart to Love (But You Can't Make It Fall) Sometimes When We Touch	-	-	-	Country48 (9 weeks) Country
1986	Alive and Well Anniversary: ​​20 Years of Hits	-	-	-	Country53 (8 weeks) Country
1987	Your Love Higher Ground	-	-	-	Country12 (19 weeks) Country
	Talkin 'to Myself Again Higher Ground	-	-	-	Country16 (20 weeks) Country
1988	Beneath a Painted Sky Higher Ground	-	-	-	Country25 (15 weeks) Country
	Next to You, Next to You	-	-	-	Country51 (11 weeks) Country
1989	Thank the cowboy for the ride next to you	-	-	-	Country66 (6 weeks) Country
1990	Let's Call It a Day Today Heart Over Mind	-	-	-	Country57 (8 weeks) Country
1991	What Goes with Blue Heart Over Mind	-	-	-	Country56 (8 weeks) Country
	We're Strangers Again Best-Loved Hits	-	-	-	Country49 (8 weeks) Country	with Randy Travis
1993	Silver Threads and Golden Needles Honky Tonk Angels	-	-	-	Country68 (2 weeks) Country	Parton , Wynette and Lynn
1994	Girl Thang Without Walls	-	-	-	Country67 (9 weeks) Country	with Wynonna Judd

More singles

• 1967: Send Me No Roses
• 1967: Good
• 1970: One Happy Christmas
• 1972: My Man
• 1972: Love's the Answer
• 1973: White Christmas
• 1976: I Can Still Believe in You
• 1977: Sweet Music Man
• 1990: I'm Turning You Loose
• 1990: Heart over Mind
• 1994: Every Breath You Take

Guest Posts

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	Country
1989	While the Feeling's Good Coming Home	-	-	-	-	-	Country63 (5 weeks) Country	with Wayne Newton
1991	Justified and Ancient (Stand by the Jams) The White Room	DE3 gold (24 weeks)DE	AT1 (21 weeks) AT	CH2 (24 weeks) CH	UK2 silver (12 weeks)UK	US11 (18 weeks) US	-	The KLF & Tammy Wynette chart entry in AT, CH and US only in 1992

Discography with George Jones

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Country
1972	Me and the first lady	-	Country6 (17 weeks) Country
1973	Let's Build a World Together	-	Country12 (12 weeks) Country
	We're gonna hold on	-	Country3 (25 weeks) Country
1975	George and Tammy and Tina	-	Country37 (4 weeks) Country	with Tina
1976	Golden ring	-	Country1 (28 weeks) Country
1980	Together again	-	Country26 (14 weeks) Country
1995	One	US117 (13 weeks) US	Country12 (21 weeks) Country

More albums with George Jones

• 1972: We Love to Sing About Jesus

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	Country
1977	Greatest hits	US- gold US	Country23 (21 weeks) Country
2013	The Classic Christmas Album	-	Country72 (1 week) Country

More compilations

• 1979: George Jones & Tammy Wynette
• 1981: Encore
• 1992: Greatest Hits, Volume 2
• 1995: George and Tammy Super Hits
• 1999: 16 biggest hits
• 2012: Playlist: The Very Best of George Jones & Tammy Wynette
• 2008: Duets

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		Country
1971	Take Me We Go Together	Country9 (13 weeks) Country
1972	The Ceremony Me and the First Lady	Country6 (15 weeks) Country
	Old Fashioned Singing We Love to Sing About Jesus	Country38 (9 weeks) Country
1973	Let's Build a World Together Let's Build a World Together	Country32 (9 weeks) Country
	We're Gonna Hold On We're Gonna Hold On	Country1 (17 weeks) Country
1974	(We're Not) The Jet Set We're Gonna Hold On	Country15 (13 weeks) Country
	We Loved It Away George & Tammy & Tina	Country8 (12 weeks) Country
1975	God's Gonna Get'cha (For That) George & Tammy & Tina	Country25 (13 weeks) Country
1976	Golden ring golden ring	Country1 (15 weeks) Country
	Near You Golden Ring	Country1 (16 weeks) Country
1977	Southern California Golden Ring	Country5 (13 weeks) Country
1980	Two Story House Together Again	Country2 (14 weeks) Country
	A Pair of Old Sneakers Together Again	Country19 (11 weeks) Country
1995	One One	Country69 (4 weeks) Country

More singles

• 1972: We Love to Sing About Jesus
• 1973: Touching Shoulders
• 1973: My Elusive Dreams
• 1973: Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus
• 1975: You're All Over This Place

Awards for music sales

Golden record

•  Canada
  • 1994: for the album Honky Tonk Angels

Platinum record

•  Canada
  • 1979: for the album Tammy's Greatest Hits

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Germany (BVMI)	-	gold1	-	250,000	musikindustrie.de
Canada (MC)	-	gold1	platinum1	150,000	musiccanada.com
United States (RIAA)	-	2 × gold2	platinum1	2,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	5 × silver5	2 × gold2	-	1,040,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	5 × silver5	6 × gold6th	2 × platinum2

Artist awards

Grammy Awards

• 1968 : for I Don't Want to Play House - Best Female Country Vocal Performance
• 1970 : for Stand by Your Man - Best Female Country Vocal Performance

Filmography (selection)

• 1977: Nashville 99 (TV series, episode 1x02)
• 1994: Daddy Can Do Us All ( Evening Shade , TV series, episode 4x19)
• 1996: A terribly nice family ( Married… with Children , TV series, episode 11x07)
• 1997/1998: King of the Hill (TV series, episodes 2x11, 2x22)

literature

• Stambler, Irwin / Landon, Grelun: Encyclopedia Of Folk, Country And Western Music . New York / London: St. Martin's Press, 1969, pp. 342f.
• Shestack, Melvin: The Country Music Encyclopaedia . London: Omnibus Press, 1977, pp. 316-322.
• Dellar, Fred / Thompson, Roy: The Illustrated Encyclopedia Of Country Music . Foreword by Roy Acuff . 2nd edition London: Salamander Books, 1979, pp. 253f.
• Fuchs, Walter: History of Country Music. Centers, styles, resumes . Bergisch Gladbach: Gustav Lübbe Verlag , 1980, p. 399.
• Jeier, Thomas: The new lexicon of Country Music , Munich: Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1992, pp. 361–363.

swell

1. ↑ For more information on the songs, see Roland, Tom: The Billboard Book Of Numer One Country Hits . New York, NY: Billboard Books, 1991, p. 3f (Take Me To Your World), p. 9f (DIVORCE), p. 16 (Stand By Your Man)
2. ↑ Ehnert, Günter (Ed.): Hit balance sheet. German chart singles 1956–1980 . Hamburg: Taurus Press, 1990, p. 221
3. ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 660
4. ^ Roland, Tom: The Billboard Book Of Numer One Country Hits . New York, NY: Billboard Books, 1991, pp. 173 and 186
5. ^ White, Adam: The Billboard Book Of Gold And Platinum Records . 2nd revised edition, London: Omnibus Press, 1990, p. 254; For more detailed chart information and a list of the album's song titles, see Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Albums 1955–1996 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1996, p. 864
6. ↑ Tammy Wynette TV appearances. Retrieved August 22, 2020 (English). 
7. ^ Wynette, Tammy with assistance from Joan Dew: Stand by Your Man . New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1979
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Chart sources: DE Singles UK US1 / Album One (with George Jones) US2 / Album Honky Tonk Angels US3 / Single Justified & Ancient AT CH
9. ↑ ^{a b} The Billboard album by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .

Web links

Commons : Tammy Wynette  - Collection of Images

• Official website
• Tammy Wynette at Allmusic (English)
• George Jones & Tammy Wynette at Allmusic (English)
• Tammy Wynette at Discogs (English)
• George Jones & Tammy Wynette at Discogs (English)
• Tammy Wynette in the Internet Movie Database (English)