Grammy-winning matriarch Naomi Judd, of country music’s The Judds, dies at 76
Mother-daughter duo had 14 No. 1 hits over lengthy career and were set to be inducted into Country Music Hall of Fame
Grammy-winning country vocalist Naomi Judd -one half-of mother-daughter duo The Judds, died Saturday. She was 76.
Judds’ daughters Wynonna and Ashley announced her death on Saturday.
“Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness,” they said in a statement shared by the duo’s publicist. “We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.
The Judds were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday.
The duo achieved 14 No. 1 hits over three decades, splitting as a performing act in 1991 after doctors diagnosed Naomi Judd with hepatitis. Between 1984 and 1991 alone, the Judds had 20 Top Ten hits, and tallied five Grammys, nine CMA Awards, and seven ACM Awards.
Since arriving in Music City in 1979, Naomi Judd -and her family -- were foundational staples of country music’s continued pop evolution through the 1980s and beyond.
In a 2019 Tennessean interview honoring an exhibition in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Wynonna noted in regards to her and her mother’s careers, “She was 36 and I was 18. To go from the outhouse to the White House, to know that we went from welfare to millionaire, and we’re the American dream. People are going to see this and see themselves in us. It’s important to remember we are a mother and daughter who came out of nothing and made it … and if we can do it, you can, too.”
Naomi Judd was born Diana Ellen Judd on Jan. 11, 1946, in Ashland, Kentucky. A musically gifted honor roll student, she became pregnant but married Michael Ciminella -- instead of the child’s biological father.
She missed her high school graduation to give birth to that child, Christina (Wynonna), in 1964.
Mother Naomi’s musical desires persisted as she raised Wynonna amid significant turmoil.
By 1972, Judd and her husband had moved to Los Angeles, where she also gave birth to Wynonna’s sister
Ashley. However, in that same period, she and Ciminella also divorced. Judd attempted to piecemeal together a life for her family while in Los Angeles as a welfare recipient also working secretarial, waitressing and modeling jobs, but eventually moved back to Kentucky.
“We were (living) on a mountaintop in Kentucky. We didn’t have a telephone or a TV,” she told the Tennessean in a 2021 interview. “We were so broke, and wearing flea market dresses. We’d have these fantasies, and we were really goofy. We had such a sense of humor. And (we were) so eager to try new stuff and make fun of ourselves.”
After a brief stint back in Los Angeles, Naomi moved the family to Nashville in 1979 and took a job working as a nurse at a hospital in Franklin, Tennessee. She also formed a duo with her then 19-year-old daughter: The Judds. By 1983, she’d met producer Brent Maher, and the duo was signed to RCA Records. A year later, their second-ever mainstream single, “Mama, He’s Crazy” was on top of Billboard’s country charts.
After that hit, The Judds enjoyed a near-consecutive run of 14 No. 1 hits, including “Why Not Me,” “Love Is Alive” and “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days).”
Then RCA Records executive Joe Galante recalled to The Tennessean that, upon hearing The Judds, Conway Twitty told him, “Son, I want to tell you. I heard the Judds. You did a great thing for country music. Then he hung up.”
Naomi and Wynonna parted ways as a recording tandem in 1991 after Naomi was diagnosed with lifethreatening hepatitis C. They reunited for an extensive farewell tour in 2010-11 and performed together in 2017 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, as part of an all-star tribute to Kenny Rogers.
Last year saw a resurgence of popularity in The Judds, as they were named as 2022 inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame, alongside Ray Charles, Eddie Bayers and Pete Drake.
Upon The Judds being named Hall of Fame inductees, Naomi Judd told The Tennessean, “So much of my life, I felt anonymous. I felt neglected…so to all of a sudden have somebody saying, ‘Hey, wait a minute. You did something right. You actually pulled it off, and somebody else is validating you.’ That means that it
must be real.”
The Judds also performed at the 2022 CMT Music Awards, which was coupled with the announcement of an 11-date nationwide tour. The CMT Music Awards performance of their 1990 No. 1 single “Love Can Build A Bridge” included an introduction by Kacey Musgraves before singing in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
“A mother and daughter whose unique sound, prolific songwriting and non-stop perseverance made them one of the most successful duo in country history,” Musgraves said.