Legendary Country Singer’s Family Announces Tragic Loss

The family of legendary country singer Loretta Lynn is heartbroken following the untimely death of her eldest granddaughter.

The estate for Lynn, who died in 2022, announced the passing of Lynn Massey, the singer’s oldest granddaughter, in a brief statement on its Instagram page. Massey passed away after a “long and difficult health battle,” read the post. “Betty Sue’s daughter Lynn Massey, Loretta’s first grandchild, passed away this week after a long and difficult health battle. Our family is so grateful for the prayers and love continually shown to us.” No further details about Massey’s illness or cause of death were shared, according to the New York Post.

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In 2022, Lynn, 90, died in her sleep at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. For over six decades, the Kentucky-born singer delivered a signature blend of classic and modern ballads such as “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and her earliest hit, 1964’s “Before I’m Over You.” A 1980s film about her most famous song, the eponymously named “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” starred Sissy Spacek as Loretta and Tommy Lee Jones as her husband and briefly became the top-selling film for moviegoers that year.

Lynn enjoyed an expansive family and became a grandmother to Massey while she was only in her 30s. Her six children blessed her with 26 grandchildren including 2024’s “American Idol” star Emmy Russell, 24. Lynn, who married at 15 years old, drew inspiration from her impoverished upbringing. Her father Ted was a coal miner and subsistence farmer who later died of black lung disease that arose from his career in Kentucky’s mines. Her childhood home still stands in Paintsville.

Tragedy has befallen Lynn’s kin even before her passing. Four of her children preceded her in death including her oldest son Jack Benny Lynn who drowned in 1984 at the age of 34. The singer’s oldest daughter, Betty Sue — who was the mother to Massey — died of complications from emphysema in 2013. However, Lynn’s memory lives on in The Lynns, a duo formed by her twin daughters Peggy Lynn and Patsy Lynn, her youngest with husband Oliver Lynn. Together, Peggy and Patsy have charted hit country singles over the years and garnered CMA nominations for Vocal Duo of the Year in 1998 and 1999. Patsy’s daughter is Emma Russell, who was eliminated from the 2024 “American Idol” contest in May. While neither she or her mother may live up to the iconic career of Lynn herself, Emmy took the elimination in stride, saying it wasn’t in “God’s plan” for her to reach the finale.

“I’m just really feeling grateful. I didn’t make Top 3, but … that was God’s plan. That was funny because before I got eliminated, I think God told me, he was like, ‘Emmy, you’re not gonna be chosen by America, but I chose you,'” Russell told USA Today. There was no sense of ‘Why wasn’t I chosen?’ I know I’m chosen. It’s like whenever a boy is like, ‘I don’t wanna go out with you anymore.’ And you’re, like, ‘OK. But I know I’m loved.'”

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