Biography
Wynonna Judd earned widespread acclaim and commercial success as a member of the Judds, establishing herself among the era’s foremost female country artists. Launching her independent path in the early 1990s, she pursued an adventurous stylistic range that often perplexed committed country listeners and radio programmers while still sustaining a loyal audience. Her solo albums alternated between Judds-style country-pop and forays into roots rock, blues, gospel, adult contemporary pop, folk, and Southern R&B.
Born Christina Ciminella in Ashland, Kentucky, on May 30, 1964, Judd entered the world while her mother, then using her birth name Diana, remained in high school; her biological father left the household almost immediately. Diana married Michael Ciminella to form a conventional family. The household relocated to Los Angeles in 1968, yet the marriage ended in 1972. Wynonna experienced periods of welfare dependence over the next several years before returning with her mother to Kentucky in 1976. They settled in a mountain residence lacking both telephone and television, where country radio broadcasts provided primary entertainment. After receiving a guitar as a gift, Wynonna taught herself to play and soon joined her mother in close-harmony singing. Her vocal ability became evident by her teenage years, prompting the family’s 1979 move to Nashville in pursuit of music-industry opportunities. Naomi and Wynonna secured an RCA contract in 1983 and, throughout the rest of the decade, became the best-selling duo in country music history—a distinction later claimed by Brooks & Dunn. Less driven by career ambitions than her mother, who managed the act, Wynonna grew increasingly rebellious until Naomi received a hepatitis C diagnosis in 1990 and retired following a farewell tour in 1991.
Initially uncertain about continuing alone, Wynonna quickly chose a solo career and signed with MCA. Her self-titled debut appeared in 1992, selling more than three million copies, topping the country albums chart, reaching the pop Top Five, and drawing favorable reviews. The first three solo singles—“She Is His Only Need,” “I Saw the Light,” and “No One Else on Earth”—all reached number one on the country chart, while “My Strongest Weakness” entered the Top Five. The 1993 follow-up Tell Me Why also achieved platinum status and number one on the country chart while peaking in the pop Top Five; its title track, “Only Love,” “Girls with Guitars,” “Rock Bottom,” and “Is It Over Yet” each reached the country Top Ten. Career momentum paused, however, when tabloids reported that, like her mother, Wynonna had become pregnant outside marriage, prompting criticism from conservative country fans who questioned her suitability as a role model.
She married the child’s father, Nashville businessman Arch Kelly, in 1996 and finally issued her third album, Revelations, the same year. The more reflective project yielded the number one country single “To Be Loved by You” and eventually attained platinum certification despite producing no additional Top Ten hits. For the follow-up, 1997’s The Other Side, Judd shifted toward a blues-inflected, rock-oriented roots-music style often recalling Bonnie Raitt; the album reached the country Top Five yet became her first solo release to fall short of platinum sales, leading her to leave MCA for Mercury. By then she had welcomed a second child, though her marriage dissolved in 1998. Rather than issuing another solo project immediately, she rejoined her mother for a New Year’s Eve concert ushering in 2000. The pair mounted a full tour that year, and four new Judds recordings appeared on an exclusive bonus disc packaged with Wynonna’s Mercury debut, New Day Dawning. Her most wide-ranging album to that point—and her first co-production credit—the set included interpretations of Joni Mitchell and the Fabulous Thunderbirds; although it generated no major singles, it again entered the country Top Five.
Judd returned to country material with 2003’s What the World Needs Now Is Love, which reunited her with her mother on the track “Flies on the Butter.” The live collection Her Story: Scenes from a Lifetime, issued on both DVD and CD, arrived in 2005 and peaked at number two on the Top Country Albums chart. Just in time for the holiday season the following year, she released the seasonal album Classic Christmas. An album of covers and standards titled Sing: Chapter 1 appeared in 2009.
The Judds reunited in 2010, issuing the single “I Will Stand by You” on October 4. After a farewell tour the next year, Wynonna’s first novel, Restless Heart, was published by NAL. A six-episode reality series, The Judds, aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network in April, followed in May by the single “Love It Out Loud.” In November, Wynonna and her new band, Wynonna & the Big Noise—which included her husband, drummer and producer Cactus Moser—made their concert debut in Nashville. The band released its first single, “Something You Can’t Live Without,” in 2013, marking Judd’s initial solo material in four years. She also contributed guest vocals to albums by Willie Nelson and Colt Ford that year and competed on Dancing with the Stars. Following another extended hiatus, the full-length Wynonna & the Big Noise, produced by Moser, appeared on Curb Records in February 2016.
Born Christina Ciminella in Ashland, Kentucky, on May 30, 1964, Judd entered the world while her mother, then using her birth name Diana, remained in high school; her biological father left the household almost immediately. Diana married Michael Ciminella to form a conventional family. The household relocated to Los Angeles in 1968, yet the marriage ended in 1972. Wynonna experienced periods of welfare dependence over the next several years before returning with her mother to Kentucky in 1976. They settled in a mountain residence lacking both telephone and television, where country radio broadcasts provided primary entertainment. After receiving a guitar as a gift, Wynonna taught herself to play and soon joined her mother in close-harmony singing. Her vocal ability became evident by her teenage years, prompting the family’s 1979 move to Nashville in pursuit of music-industry opportunities. Naomi and Wynonna secured an RCA contract in 1983 and, throughout the rest of the decade, became the best-selling duo in country music history—a distinction later claimed by Brooks & Dunn. Less driven by career ambitions than her mother, who managed the act, Wynonna grew increasingly rebellious until Naomi received a hepatitis C diagnosis in 1990 and retired following a farewell tour in 1991.
Initially uncertain about continuing alone, Wynonna quickly chose a solo career and signed with MCA. Her self-titled debut appeared in 1992, selling more than three million copies, topping the country albums chart, reaching the pop Top Five, and drawing favorable reviews. The first three solo singles—“She Is His Only Need,” “I Saw the Light,” and “No One Else on Earth”—all reached number one on the country chart, while “My Strongest Weakness” entered the Top Five. The 1993 follow-up Tell Me Why also achieved platinum status and number one on the country chart while peaking in the pop Top Five; its title track, “Only Love,” “Girls with Guitars,” “Rock Bottom,” and “Is It Over Yet” each reached the country Top Ten. Career momentum paused, however, when tabloids reported that, like her mother, Wynonna had become pregnant outside marriage, prompting criticism from conservative country fans who questioned her suitability as a role model.
She married the child’s father, Nashville businessman Arch Kelly, in 1996 and finally issued her third album, Revelations, the same year. The more reflective project yielded the number one country single “To Be Loved by You” and eventually attained platinum certification despite producing no additional Top Ten hits. For the follow-up, 1997’s The Other Side, Judd shifted toward a blues-inflected, rock-oriented roots-music style often recalling Bonnie Raitt; the album reached the country Top Five yet became her first solo release to fall short of platinum sales, leading her to leave MCA for Mercury. By then she had welcomed a second child, though her marriage dissolved in 1998. Rather than issuing another solo project immediately, she rejoined her mother for a New Year’s Eve concert ushering in 2000. The pair mounted a full tour that year, and four new Judds recordings appeared on an exclusive bonus disc packaged with Wynonna’s Mercury debut, New Day Dawning. Her most wide-ranging album to that point—and her first co-production credit—the set included interpretations of Joni Mitchell and the Fabulous Thunderbirds; although it generated no major singles, it again entered the country Top Five.
Judd returned to country material with 2003’s What the World Needs Now Is Love, which reunited her with her mother on the track “Flies on the Butter.” The live collection Her Story: Scenes from a Lifetime, issued on both DVD and CD, arrived in 2005 and peaked at number two on the Top Country Albums chart. Just in time for the holiday season the following year, she released the seasonal album Classic Christmas. An album of covers and standards titled Sing: Chapter 1 appeared in 2009.
The Judds reunited in 2010, issuing the single “I Will Stand by You” on October 4. After a farewell tour the next year, Wynonna’s first novel, Restless Heart, was published by NAL. A six-episode reality series, The Judds, aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network in April, followed in May by the single “Love It Out Loud.” In November, Wynonna and her new band, Wynonna & the Big Noise—which included her husband, drummer and producer Cactus Moser—made their concert debut in Nashville. The band released its first single, “Something You Can’t Live Without,” in 2013, marking Judd’s initial solo material in four years. She also contributed guest vocals to albums by Willie Nelson and Colt Ford that year and competed on Dancing with the Stars. Following another extended hiatus, the full-length Wynonna & the Big Noise, produced by Moser, appeared on Curb Records in February 2016.
Albums
