Country Music Legend Naomi Judd Dies at 76

Country music legend Naomi Judd has died at the age of 76. Her daughters Wynonna and Ashley Judd made the announcement in a statement to the Associated Press on Saturday.

Naomi and Wynona Judd’s Grammy-winning duo The Judds were set to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday.

“Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness,” said Judd’s daughters in their statement to the AP. “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 set to tour this fall across the United States. The duo did their first television performance in over 20 years at the CMT Awards just this month.

Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. 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.

— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) April 30, 2022

Here’s more from the AP.

Originally from Kentucky, Naomi was working as a nurse when she and Wynonna started singing together professionally. Their unique harmonies, together with elements of acoustic music, bluegrass and blues, made them stand out in the genre at the time.

The Judds released six studio albums and an EP between 1984 and 1991 and won nine Country Music Association Awards and seven from the Academy of Country Music. They earned a total of five Grammy Awards together on hits like “Why Not Me” and “Give A Little Love.”

The Judds sang about family, the belief in marriage and the virtue of fidelity. Because Naomi was so young looking, the two were mistaken for sisters early in their career.

While Wynona and her mother were stars in country music, Ashley Judd is an actress known for films such as “Heat”, “Olympus Has Fallen”, and “Kiss the Girls”.

This post has been updated to include a tweet from Ashley Judd.

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