Love flows after the death of one of country music’s most famous names.
Naomi Judd, who rose to stardom singing alongside her daughter Winona in the ’80s as duo The Judds, died Saturday, April 30. She was 76 years old, and a day away from being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Winona, who was best known by her first name when she started her solo career, and her sister Ashley said her mother died of “mental illness”. As soon as the announcement was made, many celebrities from country music and the entertainment industry expressed their grief and words on social media.
Popular songs from The Judds include “Mama He’s Crazy”, “Grandpa (Tell Me’ Bout the Good Old Days)” and “Love Can Build A Bridge”. In total, the mother-daughter duo won five Grammy Awards, was the Academy Country Music Association’s Best Duet Group from 1984 to 1990, and won the 1984 Country Music Association’s Horizon Award.
Earlier this year, Naomi and Winona together performed as The Judds for the first time in decades at the CMA Awards with an outside performance called “Love Can Build A Bridge.”
“It’s already happening,” Winona said between the lyrics.
At the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville on May 1, the Judd family requested that the celebration continue as planned. Ashley Judd addressed the crowd not only to acknowledge her mother, but also Wynonna who had officially received the Hall of Fame medal that night.
Fellow Hall of Famer and Kentuckian Ricky Skaggs has officially commissioned The Judds as country music’s greatest tribute. Skaggs, along with George Straight and Reba McEntire, are credited with reviving traditional country sound in the ’80s paving the way for The Judds, Randy Travis, Garth Brooks, and others in the ’90s.
