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Tammy Wynette is an intimate portrait of a music icon, the Queen of Heartbreak, whose powerful voice simultaneously evoked universal pain and longing even as it belied her own. Add to Bookshelf. Read An Excerpt.
Feb 22, ISBN Add to Cart. Buy from Other Retailers:. Mar 04, ISBN Paperback —. I mean, I take expectation with Tammy over how she treated her kids. You should never choose a man over your kids, but Tammy Wynette always needed a man in her life. She was never happy with the one she chose, but she wasn't happy with one husband. Now, Jimmy profuse to like Tammy McDonough, but I found him particularly critical of her dress and sometimes her voice.
I was not interested in what he thought of Tammy Wynette, but I did desire to know what she did and why did some of the things she did. I would read this book again, it was really that good. And Jimmy McDonough is a good author. If I am not mistaken there are only three books about Tammy Wynette, and I have read them all. Annie Booker.
It's a little biased in its perspective as the writer is such a huge fan of Tammy's that he seems to put her high up on a pedestal and puts all the blame for what happened to her on others. I'm a big fan of Tammy's too but she was human and her own human foibles like the rest of us I'm sure. It was interesting finding out more about her early years and her time with George Jones but this wasn't the best bio, imo.
Todd Melby. Author 2 books 8 followers. The author can turn a phrase and knows where to focus his attention. Great anecdotes. Detailed where it needs to be and simply a joy. I read it a few years ago and remember underling many great sentences and crazy anecdotes, including one about George Jones being so drunk he got his hair permed into an afro.
This was a very slow read. Not as interesting as I thought it would be. A little too repetitious for me.
Tammy wynette autobiography format
Juliahoney Kamenker. After finishing a book like this, one must face his own darn curiosity. Curiosity that leads us to any celebrity biography in the first place. There is this dilemma - any book that is too fawning, we dismiss as irrelevant. On the other hand, if the details are too seedy, we would rather not really know it. The truth is, every life could be described either way, it just depends on a point of view.
It might come as surprise, but in the right hands your own life could turn into sordid bestseller full to the brim with testimonies from every schoolmate who remembers you in unflattering light. In such literary reinterpretations, shock value might be bigger if the subject was really careful about outside appearance and propriety - if we find that someone as Willie Nelson for example smokes joints, its not a big deal but if elegantly poised Tammy Wynette got stoned on Marihuana and enjoyed herself very much, playing Hank Williams and dancing around the living room now we are talking.
This is why we read celebrity biographies, even if afterwards we wish we didn't.
Autobiography format life story: (Did George Jones really drive his lawn mower into town that night to get more booze? That was after Tammy hid all his car keys!) Maybe Tammy, after all she went through, is entitled to one little sanitized autobiography.
Sometimes some things are impossible to get out of our heads. Wynette, of course is a perfect subject for biography - not only because of her important role in a music or even as a public figure, but because there is always some mystery about her - McDonough might have interviewed every single person who ever met her and still the impression is one where the people he talked with are alive while Wynette, like some vague dream, is elusive.
Some might object that author was too starry-eyed he even includes his letters to Tammy but it was this life-long passion about the subject that drove him to write the book and after all, the lady didn't have such meticulously researched biography so far. Nitpick all you want but there was no one else taking this so seriously, McDonough did some serious research and has talked to hundreds of people - including the childhood friends, musicians, colleagues and the surviving husbands, except the last one, George Richey and between the lines you can feel author's frustration because of it.
If there is a fault, it is in the way McDonough feels the need to explain and portrait each and every one of them, so in order to explain their background he might occasionally appear long-winded, it comes to the point where reader expect a chapter for every of Wynette's hairdressers. On a positive note, the book gives you a perfect portrait of s Nashville, the business, the glamour, the trash, the way country music was initially perceived as a embarrassment to some wealthier citizens who thought this reflect badly on town - one of the first reporters who wrote seriously about country music was Jack Hurst, who started writing appreciatively about these artists and like many others, he only has positive things to say about Wynette.
You don't need the book to intuitively understand that Wynette was bruised butterfly - it is there, forever imprinted in every note of music she ever recorded and curiously that voice still has power to stop the listener dead in the track. McDonough lovingly goes about standout songs from her catalogue and explains why they mean so much to him but after all, this is still a highly subjective matter - what he dismiss as inconsequent actually is unforgettable for me personally.
What is certain is that Wynette's power, talent and intensity was felt from the start even by jaded studio musicians who intuitively understood this is somebody special. Author also explains how the music business eventually changed and inevitably the old guard came to be replaced not just with new generation but with with different values.
Ultimately the reader must come to his own conclusions who this lady have been - there are funny anecdotes, riveting stories, professional jealousies, hypocrites and exploiters, sycophants and fake friends who simply relished being associated with her fame but wouldn't bat an eyelash towards the end of her life when it became obvious that Wynette was too sick to work.
The music and the magic Wynette left behind will always be more important than any of the informations you might find in the book - just be warned, some of it might leave a bitter aftertaste and you might wish that you didn't know it. Like his Neil Young and Al Green biographies, McDonough's book about Tammy Wynette is a gripping, funny, and occasionally disturbing read about a unique music legend, but Wynette's tale is ultimately much sadder and more haunted, like her best songs.
Marrying at 17 to get out from under the thumb of her loving but controlling mother, then running off to Birmingham, Alabama, to get away from her loving but controlling first husband and a life of domestic boredom, Wynette finally made it to Nashville at the age of 25 where she endured a year of rejection and hard-scrabble living before hitting the country music big-time the following year.
Wynette had a great and creatively fulfilling career in the '60s, '70s, and early '80s, but once Nashville slowly morphed from raw, authentic country made by artists with life experience and a strong point-of-view on a fast, cheap, and no-frills recording schedule to the soulless, overly smooth, corporate, generic, expensive product it became, she was poorly served by her record company and the hits mostly disappeared, though she was still a popular live act.
McDonough is an eccentric, entertaining writer and a meticulous researcher. He's a good fit to tell Wynette's wild story, and he also devotes plenty of ink to the musicians, songwriters, and producers surrounding her, which I appreciate as a music fanatic myself. McDonough also has a knack for digging up weird, hilarious details other biographers might skip over, my favorites in this book including the many strange details of local Birmingham television's Country Boy Eddie show airing from a.
Good stuff. The twentieth century had three great female singers who plumbed the darkest corners of their hearts and transformed private grief into public dramas. In Tammy Wynette, bestselling biographer Jimmy McDonough tells the story of the small-town girl who grew up to be the woman behind the microphone, whose meteoric rise led to a decades-long career full of tragedy and triumph.
I loved this book as it tells the truth about this wonderful singer, the good and the bad. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is well-written and depicts Tammye in a positive manner and also revealed flaws she might have developed while working in the music business. After reading this book you can't help but love this lady, this "Queen of Country.
I've been to many gigs at the Opry but didn't appreciate them as much as I would now after reading this book. Now I am a country music fan and wish my husband was alive to know it. Maybe he does. It was a good book and I enjoyed reading it. I must confess that ever since I heard that voice- described as a tear - I fell in love. At the time I was only five or six years old.
The cotton candy aqua net soaked wigs were her armor, but love sweet bitter love her passion. There has never been and will never be another voice like hers. I understand that her voice was as fragile as her body. That voice even her speaking voice is like a million tiny threads of silk. I adore her. That a major motion picture has never been made is for the future's greater gain.
I found it amazing that both were big enough people to be good friends unlike the behavior of current so called stars. I liked this book and at times I was a bit ashamed of it's gossipy tone. This writer has included every line about her both good and bad. You will not put down this one and cherish every moment with Tammy.
I still play her music when I do womanly tasks like cleanin' the house or washin' the clothes. I look at that last line as a tribute not a slur.
Autobiography essay format
So much of my childhood is wrapped in the sounds of most of her number one hits. I think I could spell the word d-i-v-o-r-c-e before I could spell my own name. Read this book and laugh, love, and cry with the ladies of the trailer parks of Tennessee! I'm Tennessee born and raised growing up in the county next to Dolly's so I can say that.
Given the lack of books on her, I welcome good ones like this one. You ca feel the writer's own feelings as he recount some of the more shockingly sad things in this book. None of those bother me more than G Richey's strangle hold on the money making name he selfishly guards. I can sense the love Tammy had for her own children and I cannot believe she would have given her girls practically nothing.
In fact, Richey's new chick and child have it over Tammy's girls, too. Although she wanted to collaborate with Merle Haggard , she was instead paired with Mark Gray. Gray had left Exile before that band's shift from pop to country, and was beginning a solo country music career of his own at the time. Wynette and Gray's rendition peaked at number six on the Billboard country chart in It became her first top ten recording in four years.
In late , Wynette entered the Betty Ford Center to treat her addiction to prescription drugs. Wynette's longtime label released her next album titled Higher Ground in In , " Your Love " reached the American and Canadian country songs top 20, while " Talkin' to Myself Again " reached number 16 on the former. This resulted in a temporary end to their professional partnership.
As Wynette's career entered the s, several new team members were hired to manage her business affairs. These included Epic vice president Mark Martinovich, who had to convince the Nashville establishment that Wynette was still marketable. Martinovich had her perform in more diverse settings, including The Bottom Line venue in Greenwich Village.
Wynette accepted and Drummond helped produce it. Although she had difficulty singing in-time to the track, the song was pieced together by studio engineers when Drummond returned to England. The dance-pop song centering around an imaginary setting called "Mu Mu Land" was considered a departure from Wynette's previous recordings in terms of song choice and production.
By , the single was being routinely played on MTV and reached number one in 18 countries. Consisting of classic country recordings performed in three-part harmonies, the album reunited Wynette with Steve Buckingham. Several selections on the project were penned by the trio, including one composed by Wynette herself. In , Wynette released a studio album of duets titled Without Walls.
BBC called it a "respect-laden series of duets", [ 97 ] while biographer Jimmy McDonough called it "cringe-worthy". She often missed concerts because she was too ill to perform. In , Wynette was dropped by her long-time label, Epic Records.
The song proved to be her final recording. Wynette's final concerts and television performances were held in March Other works by Wynette have also appeared outside of music. In , she published a book about her life with author Joan Dew. Wynette's career also took shape through film and television. Both actors did their own singing for the roles. The New York Times commented, "The rags-to-riches sagas, presumably meant to be inspiring, tend to get trapped under a cloud of dreariness," wrote John O'Connor.
It was her first major acting role. A film crew followed Wynette while on the road and at home with her husband. In the s, Wynette received more exposure on television. Fellow country artist K. Oslin also appeared on the show. She portrayed Hank Hill's mother between and Further works about her were released posthumously. Among them were three books that appeared in the years following her death.
Daly collaborated on the book with country music biographer Tom Carter. The book was focused on Georgette's own account of being Wynette's daughter and living her life with her father, George Jones. It was said Georgette wrote the book in response to the unfavorable portrayal of her mother in Jimmy McDonough's book.
The series is based on Georgette Jones's memoir and aired its first of six weekly episodes on Showtime December 4, Wynette was plagued by health problems throughout her life. Her health declined even more in the final years of her life and she began to look frailer. I thought, 'this woman is dying — why isn't somebody doing something?
She was 55 years old. He stated in his original report that Wynette died from a blood clot in her lung. In the days following her death, performers and other industry insiders reacted to her death. She'll always be special. She'll always live in our memories," said Dolly Parton. The words have all been said", he added. A public memorial service, attended by about 1, people, was held at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on April 9, Country stars Wynonna Judd and Lorrie Morgan also performed while Merle Haggard offered his performance through a prerecorded video.
Eulogies were given by other notable country artists, including Naomi Judd. According to her daughters, a will written by Wynette years prior had provided a trust. The specifics of the trust included money to be given to her four daughters over a period of time. The yellow legal pad which included this information written by Wynette herself was missing in the days following her death.
Richey received a one million dollar estate policy, along with an additional 1. According to daughter Jackie, Richey was "evasive" when asked about the daughters' own payouts. Further detective work was conducted by local television reporter Jennifer Kraus. She discovered that a local company called Care Solutions Inc. The sisters claimed they were responsible for the country star's demise.
Furthermore, they claimed that Richey refused to take advice from Dr. According to Dr. Marsh, he had told Richey to take Wynette to a hospital in the days leading up to her death. In , Wynette's body was exhumed and an autopsy was given. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy declared Wynette died from cardiac arrhythmia.
Wynette used syringes and was later fitted with a permanent catheter into her side that allowed drugs to directly enter her bloodstream. Richey was later dropped as a defendant from the suit, [ ] a court dismissed the claims against Care Solutions, and the remaining parties reached a confidential settlement with the doctor.
Richardson", her legal married name at the time of her death. Through Facebook , they launched a petition to urge fans to help change the name of her tomb back to "Tammy Wynette". More than 3, fans voted in support of the petition. In March , the name on the tomb was changed back through a court order.
Wynette married Euple Byrd who was five years her senior when she was 17, one month before her high-school graduation. Wynette was not yet of legal age so her mother was required to sign the marriage paperwork, but she refused and instead forced her daughter to leave the family home; her grandfather signed the papers that legalized their marriage.
Many of their marital conflicts stemmed from Byrd being unable to hold down a steady job. After becoming pregnant again, Wynette asked Euple to leave but he kept returning. After one argument, Wynette suffered a "nervous breakdown", according to biographer Jimmy McDonough, and her family took her to a psychiatric hospital.
Doctors diagnosed her with depression and gave her 12 rounds of electric shock treatment. Upon returning from the hospital, she still insisted on filing for divorce. However, her mother disapproved and Wynette secretly moved with her children to Birmingham, Alabama. However, their problems continued and they eventually divorced in He then replied, "Dream on baby, dream on.
When he asked for her autograph, she signed it, "Dream on, baby. Love, Tammy". In , Byrd was killed in a car crash. Wynette met her second husband, Don Chapel, upon moving to Nashville in The pair developed a romantic relationship through their day-to-day interactions at the motel. Chapel was also an aspiring songwriter and musician. Wynette first met George Jones while on tour with him in the late sixties.
According to Wynette, Jones helped her one evening when one of her children was hospitalized with food poisoning. The following day, Jones stopped by Chapel and Wynette's home. Chapel was irritated with Wynette because she would not stop playing Jones's music on their record player. Chapel then began directing derogatory words and profanity at her.
Angered by Chapel's conduct, Jones overturned the couple's dining room table. Jones and Wynette then proceeded to confess their love for each other to Chapel. Immediately after the incident, Jones escorted Wynette and her three daughters out of the Chapel home. They never returned. After leaving Chapel, they flew to Mexico to get a quick divorce.
However, her marriage to Chapel was later annulled because she remarried quickly after her first marriage to Euple Byrd. They later built a performance venue on the property, which they titled "Old Plantation Music Park". Jones and Wynette's marriage was tumultuous. When he drank, he became difficult to control. In an effort for Jones to retain sobriety, they moved from Lakeland back to Nashville in However, Jones relapsed again, which caused further friction in their marriage.
To stop Jones from driving under the influence , Wynette began hiding his car keys. On one day, Jones could not find where Wynette had hid his keys.
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As a result, he took the keys to their riding lawnmower and successfully rode it into town and back to purchase alcohol. In a separate incident, Wynette claimed in her autobiography that Jones had chased her through their home with a loaded rifle. Jones later denied this in his own autobiography. Wynette filed for divorce in , but the couple ultimately reconciled.
Jones would often disappear for days at a time. In one attempt to locate him, Wynette drove her children and two friends down to Florida but were unsuccessful in their search. Disappointed and upset, Wynette filed for divorce for a second time. It was finalized on January 8, After the divorce became public, Wynette told the press, "George is one of those people that can't tolerate happiness.
If everything is right, there's something in him that makes him destroy it. Wynette and Jones's relationship was dramatized in a miniseries , starring Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon. The miniseries was created by Abe Sylvia and based on the memoir of the couple's daughter, Georgette, and directed by John Hillcoat. Following her divorce from George Jones, Wynette was romantically linked to several people.
She was briefly involved with Rudy Gatlin, a brother of Larry Gatlin and then-member of her touring band. Additionally, the couple received negative publicity after a fire was mysteriously started at Wynette's home. Rumors circulated that Rudy had started the fire. Amidst the publicity, their relationship ended. Their relationship was temporarily kept secret but was eventually revealed by the press in During one evening, Reynolds was taking a bath at her home when she found him unconscious.
She was able to pull Reynolds out before he drowned. He was later diagnosed with having low blood sugar. Wynette then met real estate developer Michael Tomlin through her friend Nan Crofton. The furniture in his office was rented", said Joan Dew. On July 6, , Wynette married her fifth husband, George Richey. This included several instances when Richey visited Wynette while she was recovering from illnesses at the hospital.
After a recording session one evening, Richey professed his love for Wynette. The pair then married. He also took control of her finances. Wynette's marriage to Richey caused friction between her loved ones.
Autobiography sample format
Georgette also claimed to have been estranged from her father George Jones because Richey did not want her to see him. George Jones commented, "I believe a lot of things went on that shouldn't have went on. Let me put it that way. Richey married Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Sheila Slaughter in Richey died in at the age of Wynette gave birth to four daughters.