Tammy Wynnette was born in Mississippi in 1941, the daughter of a farmer. Her birth name was Virginia Wynnette Pugh.
Her father died when she was a baby so her mother was left badly off- Mildred Pugh had to leave her daughter in the care of her own parents, while she took a job in a defence plant.
Tammy grew up without much in the way of material comforts. Her mother remarried a farmer called Foy Lee.
Tammy grew up without much in the way of material comforts. Her mother remarried a farmer called Foy Lee.
Tammy attended high school but married young, to a construction worker
Euple Byrd, who was not very good at holding down a job. She had to take low paying jobs
to help support herself and their children.
She worked at jobs like waitress, and barmaid, but then went to Beauty
College and trained as a hairdresser. She had dreams of becoming a singer but
her husband was far from supportive and she left him after the birth of their
third child.
In 1965, she appeared
briefly on TV and then in 1966 she moved with her three daughters to Nashville.
She finally succeeded in getting a recording contract and had a hit with a
Johnny Paycheck song “Apartment Number 9”. She changed her name, using her middle
name Wynnette and called herself Tammy after the heroine of a film with Debbie
Reynolds. Her first hit was followed by
"Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad” which did even better on the country
charts.
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