Wynonna Judd

Wynonna Judd

Wynonna Judd (born May 30, 1964 in Ashland, Kentucky) is an American country music singer. Born Christina Claire Ciminella, she was renamed Wynonna Ellen Judd, a name adapted from the line "Don't forget Winona" in the pop song "Route 66". Her solo albums and singles are all credited to the singular name Wynonna (/waɪˈnoʊnə/).

Biography

Wynonna was born in Ashland, Kentucky. She was given the last name Ciminella after her sister Ashley's father Michael. Her biological father was Charles Jordan, who died in 2000. Her immediate family consists of her mother, Naomi Judd, half-sister Ashley Judd, son Elijah Judd (born December 23, 1994), daughter Grace Pauline (born June 21, 1996).

The Judds

Wynonna made her musical debut in the 1980s, alongside her mother Naomi in the country duo The Judds. Between 1984 and 1991, The Judds charted twenty-two hit singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles (now Hot Country Songs) charts, including fourteen Number Ones. They also recorded eight studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations. In their seven year career, The Judds sold more than twenty million records worldwide making them the highest selling duo in country music at the time and they won over sixty industry awards including five Grammy’s, nine Country Music Association Awards and eight Billboard Music Awards. After a bout of hepatitis forced Naomi to retire, Wynonna embarked on a solo career. Naomi and Wynonna conducted a farewell tour in 1991 and then briefly reunited in 2000 for a reunion tour. Since that time they perform together occasionally.

Solo career

Wynonna has accumulated sales totals as a solo artist in excess of ten million units, a top Female Vocalist win by the Academy of Country Music and sixteen top ten hits on the charts from her seven studio albums and one live album (all from Curb Records) resulting in more than twenty-five hits on the country charts, including six Number Ones and ten Top Ten hits.

Wynonna released her self-titled solo debut album in 1992. On April 2, 1992, she unveiled "She Is His Only Need", her first single, in her very first solo TV performance. [1]. With vast critical acclaim, her first solo project, Wynonna, was certified for sales of over five million units and became the highest-selling debut album by a female artist at the time. It produced four straight Number One singles. In 1993, Wynonna followed her successful debut with the multi-platinum disc, Tell Me Why, which produced her fifth Number One single, “Only Love,” to be followed by the 1994 platinum-certified album, Revelations. She was named one of the Top 10 grossing tours of the year in 1996. Her greatest hits compilation, Collection, was released in 1997 along with her fourth studio album, “The Other Side.”

In 2003 she returned to the music charts with her fourteenth solo Top 20 hit, “What the World Needs” from her sixth solo album which debuted Number One on the Billboard Country Album charts and the Top 10 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart.

In 2004, she celebrated a milestone of twenty years in the music business with the release of her top A/C single hit “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

In 2006, Wynonna released her first-ever solo Christmas CD titled, A Classic Christmas, which was a critically acclaimed Top 10 Billboard Country album and produced her first Top 10 Billboard Christmas single. She contributed guest vocals on compilations from Sam Moore, Patti Labelle, Ann Wilson and Dionne Warwick. She performed at the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway.

In 2007, Wynonna was presented with a star on the Music City Walk of Fame. She also lent her voice to an international music documentary on BBC radio that reached over 13 million listeners and helped celebrate music icon, Stevie Wonder, at the inaugural ASCAP American Troubadour Awards in Washington, DC. Wynonna kicked off her first-ever 18 city Christmas tour, “A Classic Christmas” by performing at the 81st Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC.

On June 7, 2008 Wynonna sat down for a live Internet chat for her fans in which she was asked questions submitted during the session. Over 6000 fans signed up in a 5 minute span causing the server to crash. A total of 18,000 fans eventually logged on to watch Wynonna's chat live via Stickam.com.

In November 2008, Wynonna embarked upon her 2nd annual Christmas tour. In October 2008, she blended her voice with the late Elvis Presley for the track “Santa Claus is Back in Town” on SonyBMG's "Elvis Presley Christmas Duets" project. This was the first Elvis Presley duet recordings album and the first Christmas compilation of its kind ever produced. Wynonna also paid tribute to the dedicated men and women in uniform, “Holiday Notes From Home: A Christmas Tribute for the Troops,” which was filmed at the Grand Ole Opry House and aired on the American Forces Radio & Television Service worldwide.

2009 marks Wynonna’s 25th anniversary in the music business and to celebrate she released her seventh studio album, “Sing: Chapter 1.” The album is an eclectic assortment of standards paying homage to all the different genres and songs that have formed the soundtrack to her own life. The album was produced with Brent Maher, the producer responsible for the mega-hits and Grammy’s of The Judds, and Don Potter, musical arranger and signature guitarist for many of The Judds and Wynonna’s solo projects. Sing pays homage to eleven country, rock, blues and soul-baring standards originated by legendary artists that influenced her. According to Wynonna, “All my musical chapters are here. Every genre. These are the songs that have moved me ever since I was a little girl. These are the songs I have turned to for comfort and insight at every point of my life.”

Appearances in television

In 1994 and 2002, Wynonna performed at Super Bowl.

In 1999, Wynonna made her acting debut on CBS’s “Touched by an Angel,” making a total of three appearances.

Judd provided the voice of the rock star, Molly Cule, in the science mystery cartoon The Magic School Bus (TV series)

In 2007, Wynonna starred in a special television event on NBC honoring her 23 year career titled, “Wynonna: A Tribute on Ice,” which featured world-class skating champions such as Kimmie Meissner and Brian Boitano. The commemorative tribute also highlighted a rare television appearance by Naomi Judd in a performance as The Judds. Additionally, in 2007, Wynonna hosted the fourth season of USA Network’s “Nashville Star."

On February 5,2009, Wynonna guest starred as herself on NBC's comedy, Kath & Kim. In support of her album she also appeared on CMT, GAC, A&E Sessions, Good Morning America, The Craig Ferguson Show, Late Show with David Letterman, Oprah, Rachael Ray, Ellen, The Gospel Music Channel

Other accomplishments

On June 22, 2000 Judd performed the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Freebird" with the band Phish at a concert of theirs outside Nashville, Tennessee. She was also named as national spokesperson for the “Power to Change” program sponsored by Kmart and Ladies Home Journal and became the celebrity spokesperson for Kmart in a national campaign.

In 2002, she re-recorded Elvis’s “Burning Love” for Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” soundtrack and was spotlighted in the ABC primetime special supporting the film’s release.

In 2005, although she is associated with the country genre, she has also ventured into other music genres by allowing her cover version of "I Want to Know What Love Is" was released as a dance track, where it peaked at number 12 on Billboard Radio Monitor's Hot Dance Airplay chart in 2005. She also added New York Times Best Selling Author to her resume as she released her first autobiography, Coming Home to Myself, in September. Also, she was honored with the USO’s prestigious Merit Award for service to all divisions of the United States Armed Forces and teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to record “Heart of America,” with Michael McDonald and Eric Benet which in turn helped raise over $90 million dollars for victims of natural disasters to the Gulf Coast. The trio subsequently performed the song at the World Series (a first in her career). She brought attention to the global emergency of AIDS in her fourth year as United States Ambassador for YouthAIDS.

In 2009, Wynonna became the spokeswoman for alli, the only FDA-approved over-the-counter weight loss product, which features the artist in a national marketing campaign.

Personal Life

Wynonna married Arch Kelley on January 21, 1996, and divorced in 1999. The couple had two children, Elijah and Grace. Wynonna's second husband was her former bodyguard, D. R. Roach, whom she married on November 22, 2003. She filed for divorce from Roach on March 27, 2007 after his arrest for sexual assault of a child under the age of 13.

In November 2003, Wynonna appeared on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show discussing what she described as a "severe" dependency on food. She had been working with the show in an effort to lose a significant amount of weight and get to the root of her dependency. In September 2005 Wynonna made a second appearance on the show, discussing how she had lost some weight (but had yet to reach her goal weight); had patched up broken relationships with her mother, and with the man she considered "her dad", Michael Ciminella, from whom she had been estranged for almost a decade. Both Naomi and Michael visited Wynonna at the Shades of Hope rehab center in Buffalo Gap, Texas during a family visit, where Wynonna, 42, was being treated for food addiction. In September 2005, in an interview for The Insider, Wynonna also discussed being sexually assaulted by an acquaintance when she was younger.

Discography

Main article: Wynonna Judd discography

References

• Millard, Bob. (1998). "Wynonna Judd". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 272.
• Millard, Bob. (1998). "The Judds". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 272–3.

External links

• Wynonna official website
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