\n<\/p>\n
\n\tJeannie Seely, a country star of the \u201960s and \u201970s who had been a favorite of Grand Ole Opry audiences from her induction in 1967 up until the present day, died Friday at age 85.<\/p>\n
\n\tSeely last performed on the Opry on Feb. 22 of this year \u2014 her 5,397th Opry performances, which surpassed the number for any other performer in the history of the century-old live broadcast. Not just on the Opry, but generally speaking, Seely was considered to be the oldest regularly working female country singer. (Among all ongoing Opry stars, Bill Anderson still had a couple of years on her; he is 87.)<\/p>\n
\n\tBeyond the Opry, Seely was a familiar name to younger generations of country fans as the host of a weekly SiriusXM program that had run on the Willie\u2019s Roadhouse channel since 2018.<\/p>\n
\n\tHer publicist reported Seely died at 5 p.m. CT\u00a0at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee, due complications from an intestinal infection. Although she continued to perform on the Opry through February of this year, she had recently suffered from multiple health issues, which this year included two emergency abdominal surgeries and multiple back surgeries.
\u00a0
Dolly Parton was among the stars quickly weighing in with thoughts about Seely\u2019s passing. \u201cI have known Jeanie Seely since we were early on in Nashville,\u201d Parton wrote in a message on Instagram. \u201cShe was one of my dearest friends. I think she was one of the greater singers in Nashville and she had a wonderful sense of humor. We had many wonderful laughs together, cried over certain things together and she will be missed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tPhoto of Jeannie Seely circa 1970. Photo by Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/span> \n\tSunny Sweeney, one of the younger-generation country traditionalists who revered Seely, spoke about learning about the death while playing the Opry Friday night. \u201cTonight I played the Opry for the 77th time for the release of my new album that came out today,\u201d Sweeney wrote on Instagram. \u201cI was set up in Jeannie Seely\u2019s dressing room and had a 4:40 p.m. rehearsal. My rehearsal got moved to 5:40 at the last minute so I was sitting in her room, where I\u2019ve spent so many nights with her and Gene [her late husband] over the years, when she passed on across town at 5:00 pm. I can\u2019t explain what that coincidence will mean to me for the rest of my life. I will miss you forever, my friend\u2026 and I promise to carry your torch with pride forever. I loved you hard and knowing you was one of the greatest honors of my life\u2026 I cried on stage and I know she was rolling her eyes at me, telling me to not mess up my eye makeup.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn 2021, Variety<\/em> profiled Seely\u2019s history with the Opry, visiting her backstage at the Opry House just prior to the show\u2019s 5,000th broadcast. \u201cJeannie Seely is living proof that, in country music circles, it\u2019s possible to get hipper as you get older,\u201d the article began.<\/p>\n \n\tShe talked then about what it was like to hang with the late Little Jimmy Dickens in the dressing room we were meeting in. \u201cI\u2019d had had some vocal issues because I have some esophagus issues, and I went to him and I said, \u2018What do you do?\u2019 He said, \u2018Lower the keys and tell more bullshit.\u2019\u201d She told Variety that Dickens influenced the tone of her act. \u201cIn my early years, I remember there was like Eddie Arnold, who was always a serious singer, and then there\u2019d be a comedian. But it was Jimmy Dickens that was the first one that made me realize that you can do both \u2014 be a serious singer and also be funny \u2014 and that\u2019s what I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSeely\u2019s first major hit was 1966\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Touch Me,\u201d which reached No. 2 on the Billboard country chart. (It also became her lone Hot 100 entry, peaking there at No. 85. She reached the country top 10 twice more as a solo artist, with \u201cI\u2019ll Love You (More Than You Need)\u201d (No. 10 in 1967) and \u201cCan I Sleep in Your Arms\u201d (No. 6 in 1973), and once as the duet partner of Jack Greene, with \u201cWish I Didn\u2019t Have to Miss You\u201d (No. 2 in 1969). Her other top 20 hits included \u201cIt\u2019s Only Love,\u201d \u201cA Wanderin\u2019 Man,\u201d \u201cMuch Oblige,\u201d \u201cWhat Has Gone Wrong With Our World\u201d (the latter two with Greene) and \u201cLucky Ladies.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tHer run of charting singles lasted through 1977, though she continued to release new albums as recently as 2020\u2019s \u201cAn American Classic,\u201d which included collaborations with Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Lorrie Morgan, Waylon Payne and others.<\/p>\n \n\tShe won her sole Grammy for \u201cDon\u2019t Touch Me\u201d in the Best Country & Western Recording category in 1967. Seeley earned two additional Grammy nods in subsequent years.<\/p>\n \n\tA Pennsylvania native, Seely spent time in Los Angeles working at a bank and then as a secretary for Liberty\/Imperial Records before moving to Nashville in 1965 with $50 in her pocket. Her first husband, legendary songwriter Hank Cochran, gave her a leg up when the rejections came fast and furious. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI had met Hank Cochran in California, as I had Dottie West and Justin Tubb. They kind of opened some doors,\u201d she said in an interview with Classic Bands. \u201cHank took one of my demo tapes to several of the places. Then later, eventually, including Fred Foster at Monument, Hank was so frustrated by it. I remember he took me into Monument, into Fred\u2019s office about 5:30 one evening when everybody else was leaving the office. He handed me a guitar and said, \u2018Now sit there and sing until Fred signs you.\u2019 I always laughed later. I said I don\u2019t know whatever Fred finally heard something in that little session or whether he was just hungry and wanted to go to dinner and said, \u2018Okay, okay, whatever.\u2019 But thank goodness he did. He just said, \u2018Okay. I hear what you\u2019re hearing. Let\u2019s find some songs and we\u2019ll go ahead and record.’\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSeely encountered no small amount of sexism along the way. There was even a level of patronizing embedded when she was complimented by no less a public figure than President Richard Nixon, who watcher her in his visit to the Opry in 1974 and said, \u201cSome girls have looks but can\u2019t sing. Others can sing but don\u2019t have looks. Jeannie Seely\u2019s got them both.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThere was a glass ceiling at the Opry for many years of her tenure there. \u201cOne of the things I have a lot of pride in is the fast that the doors are finally open for women to host. That was a door a lot of people don\u2019t realize in the newer generation, that those doors were not only slammed shut and locked, they were sealed against women; that was a door that I beat on constantly trying to get them to change that. I remember when Mr. Durham was the manager, I used to go to him all the time and I\u2019d say, \u2018Okay, I know you\u2019ve told me before why it is women can\u2019t host the Opry, but I forget,\u2019 and he\u2019d say, \u2018It\u2019s tradition Jeannie,\u2019 and I said, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s right, it\u2019s tradition, it just smells like discrimination.\u201d Things turned around, though, with a change of administration. \u201cI was very aware though that when Bob Whitaker came on as manager and he opened the doors and allowed me especially to do that, I knew that I had to do my homework, I knew I had to pay attention, I had to do it right or the door would be slammed again, not only on me but on a lot of them comin\u2019 behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSeely told Variety<\/em> in 2021 that she never told the Opry no when they invited her to perform. \u201cIf the phone rings and I see it\u2019s Dan (Rogers), I never say \u2018Hello.\u2019 I just say, \u2018Yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAt the Opry, she said, there was little generation gap. \u201cI try to always impress this on young artists that didn\u2019t grow up on the Opry: It is not a normal concert venue. It\u2019s not a normal show. There\u2019s usually three generations represented on this stage, and you\u2019ll see three generations in the audience, you don\u2019t see that anywhere else. At sporting things, there might be in the crowd, but not on the field, you know? So I think that\u2019s one thing that makes the Opry so unique.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSaturday night\u2019s edition of the Grand Ole Opry will be dedicated to Seely.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tJeannie Seely performs at Durango Music Spot at Fan Fair X on Thursday, June 9 at the 2016 CMA Music Festival in downtown Nashville.<\/span> \n\tSeely\u2019s husband, Gene Ward, died in December. Her three siblings also preceded her in death.<\/p>\n \n\tShe did not have any children, but there was a big asterisk on that, as she explained in an interview with Country Stars Central. \u201cI didn\u2019t give birth to any children, but I had three stepsons when I was married with Hank Cochran and helped raise three stepsons there,\u201d she said, \u201cand I helped raise two of Jack Greene\u2019s sons because I was the only one there. So, I have had a little experience, but the grandbabies are all a new experience for me. It\u2019s funny; I was talking to somebody the other day and she said, \u2018I found out what people meant when they said that if I\u2019d had known grandchildren were so great, I would have just had them and skipped the children.\u2019 I said, \u2018Well, actually that\u2019s what I did.’\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAmong other testimonials, Sarah Trahern, CEO of the Country Music Association, said, \u201cWhile I\u2019ve had the privilege of working with Jeannie Seely over the past 25 years, my immediate grief is deeply personal.\u00a0Early in my tenure at CMA, I shared unforgettable lunches with Jeannie and Jo Walker Meador, full of stories that were occasionally irreverent but always fascinating. Jeannie was at the very first Fan Fair with Jack Greene and remained a beloved fixture for decades. She once told me a hilarious story about switching credentials with Dottie West just to keep people on their toes. When the CMA Board honored her with the Joe Talbot Award in 2023, it was for more than her music and fan relationships \u2014 it was for her spark. She mentored countless artists, especially women, and while they learned from her confidence and wit, she reminded us she was learning from them too. That humility was part of her magic.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tAsked then what she hoped she would be remembered for, Seeley said, \u201cWell, I hope that people will remember me as being a good person, number one, and I hope that they will remember me with a smile. I hope that I have made people laugh, I hope that will be a good memory for everybody and I hope they will remember that, number one, I was still and still am a fan. I never stopped being a fan of country music and certainly never stopped being in awe of the Grand Ole Opry. I hope that they\u2019ll remember that I was just one of them; I just sang and wrote songs for a living.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tJeannie Seely performs at the Greased Lightning Riverfront Park Stages \u201cROPE Legends Show\u201d on Sunday, June 13 in Downtown Nashville during the 2004 CMA Music Festival, \u201cCountry Music\u2019s Biggest Party.\u201d<\/span> Jeannie Seely, a country star of the \u201960s and \u201970s who had been a favorite of Grand Ole Opry audiences from her induction in 1967 up until the present day, died Friday at age 85. Seely last performed on the Opry on Feb. 22 of this year \u2014 her 5,397th Opry performances, which surpassed the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1973,7309,7310,2855,7311],"class_list":{"0":"post-13634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-country","9":"tag-hitmaker","10":"tag-longtime","11":"tag-member","12":"tag-opry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Ochs Archives<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKayla Schoen\/CMA<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTheresa Montgomery\/CMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"