The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is still reliving The Judds’ iconic rise to fame. The organization dedicated to the evolving history of the genre shared a video on Tuesday (May 3), chronicling The Judds’ career.
The Judds “helped return country music to its roots in the 1980s with lean, tuneful songs,” the Country Music Hall of Fame noted. The mother-daughter duo were inducted during an emotional ceremony on Sunday (May 1), one day after Naomi Judd passed away. She was 76.
Naomi’s daughters Ashley and Wynonna Judd announced on Saturday afternoon (April 30) that they “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.” The announcement followed with an outpouring of heartfelt tributes to Naomi, including by Loretta Lynn, Carrie Underwood, the Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire and other country music icons.
Ashley and Wynonna attended the ceremony on Sunday, where Wynonna said it was a “very strange dynamic to be this broken and this blessed.” She said, although her heart is broken for her mother, she “will continue to sing.”
Here’s what the Country Music Hall of Fame shared of The Judds’ career:
“Natives of Ashland, Kentucky, mother Naomi and daughter Wynonna Judd moved to Nashville in 1979, looking to make it in the music business. To support her family, Naomi worked as a nurse and found additional jobs, including work as a model and as an actress in the made-for-TV movie, Living Proof. The Judds also often sang on Ralph Emery’s morning show on WSM-TV.
“Producer Brent Maher heard the homemade cassette of Naomi and Wynonna singing together. Maher was impressed enough to arrange for an audition for The Judds, and in 1983, the duo was signed to Curb RCA Records. Their first single was a cover of an Elvis Presley song, ‘Had A Dream,’ which made it into the Top 20 on the charts. Their second single went all the way to No. 1.
“A string of hits followed, including ‘Why Not Me,’ ‘Love Is Alive,’ and ‘Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Old Days),’ resulting in gold and platinum albums, 20 Top 10s, including 14 No. 1 singles and numerous industry awards. The Judds toured constantly throughout the 80s. In 1990, The Judds released ‘Love Can Build A Bridge,’ a heartfelt song co-written by Naomi.
“By then, Naomi was experiencing medical problems, and learned that she had contracted the often-fatal disease, Hepatitis C. The duo told the world of Naomi’s declining health, and announced a farewell tour that would last through the following year. Reunion tours would follow, even as Wynonna made her own way as a successful solo artist.
“The path The Judds took from rural Kentucky to the top of the country charts was filled with hard times and triumphs, and like The Carter Family, The Delmore Brothers and The Everly Brothers, The Judds are forever bound by family ties. They’re also bound together as members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.”
Watch the video here: