Naomi Judd was an American singer and songwriter who was associated with Grammy-winning ‘The Judds’, a musical duo consisting of Naomi and her daughter Wynonna Judd. 

She died on Saturday at the age of 76. 

Announcing her death in a statement, Judd’s daughters, Ashley and Wynonna, said- “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,” they added. 

Early life 

Judd was born on January 11, 1946, in Ashland, Kentucky, to Charles Glen Judd and Pauline Ruth ‘Polly’. She had a brother, Brian, who succumbed to leukemia at the age of 17.

At the age of 18, Judd gave birth and became a mother to Christina Ciminella, known as Wynonna Judd. In 1968, Judd was blessed with her second daughter, Ashley,  who went on to pursue a career in acting and cinema.

As a single mother, Judd attended a nursing school in California and then launched her music career with her first daughter. 

The Judds 

The mother-daughter duo went on to sing country music revolving around marital life, family and fidelity. Their hit tracks like ‘Love Can Build a Bridge’ and ‘Why Not Me’ won them several awards including five Grammys, nine Country Music Association Awards, and seven Academy of Country Music awards.

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In their three-decades-long music career, the duo ruled over top-10 charts and did not lose for eight consecutive years at significant country music awards shows.

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However, they called it quits in 1991 after Judd was diagnosed with hepatitis. 

Mental illness 

As her booming career in country music came to an end, Judd began to experience anxiety, panic attacks, depression, tremors and suicidal tendencies. While the cause of her death has not been revealed, her daughters said that they lost her to “the disease of mental illness.”