Wynonna Judd.html



This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

This article or section needs copy editing for cohesion. You can assist by editing it now. A how-to guide is available. (April 2008)

Wynonna Judd
Background information
Birth name	Christina Claire Ciminella
Also known as	Wynonna
Born	May 30, 1964 (1964-05-30) (age 44)
Origin	Ashland, Kentucky, USA
Genre(s)	Country
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	1983-present
Label(s)	RCA Records/Curb MCA/Curb Universal/Curb Mercury/Curb Asylum/Curb
Associated acts	The Judds, Barbara Mandrell
Website	Wynonna.com

Wynonna Judd (born May 30, 1964 in Ashland, Kentucky¹) is an American country music singer. Born Christina Claire Ciminella, she was renamed Wynonna Ellen Judd Roach,² a name adapted from the line "Don't forget Winona" in the pop song "Route 66".³ Her solo albums and singles are all credited to the singular name Wynonna (IPA: /waɪˈnoʊnə/).

Wynonna made her musical debut in the 1980s, alongside her mother Naomi in the country duo The Judds. Between 1983 and 1991, The Judds charted twenty-three hit singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles (now Hot Country Songs) charts, including fourteen Number Ones. They also recorded eight studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations.

After a bout of hepatitis forced Naomi to retire, Wynonna embarked on a solo career, and her self-titled solo debut album was released in 1991. It produced three straight Number One singles and was certified 5× Multi-Platinum in the United States for sales of five million copies. Since then, Wynonna has recorded eight more studio albums, all on Curb Records. These albums have produced more than twenty-five hits on the country charts, including four Number Ones and seven additional Top Ten hits.

Biography

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (November 2007)

Personal life

Please help improve this section by expanding itwith: More info on her life and career. This is not nearly enough. Further information might be found on the talk page. (September 2008)

Wynonna was born in Ashland, Kentucky with the name Christina Claire Ciminella. She was given the last name Ciminella after her sister Ashley's father Michael. Her biological father was Charles Jordan, who died in 2000.

Her immediate family consists of her mother, Naomi Judd, half-sister Ashley Judd, son Elijah Judd (born December 23, 1994), daughter Grace Pauline (born June 21, 1996[1].

Wynonna's second husband was her former bodyguard, D. R. Roach, whom she married on November 22, 2003. She filed for divorce from Roach on March 27, 2007 after his arrest for sexual assault of a child under the age of 13.

The Judds

Before launching her solo career, Wynonna sang with her mother as part of one of the most successful and celebrated country music duos. Together, they were known as The Judds. Wynonna is an active and vocal member of the Recording Artists' Coalition, an American music industry organization that represents recording artists, and attempts to defend their rights and interests. Some of her achievements include 20 number-one singles, multiple gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums, multiple Grammy awards and a performance at Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994.

Solo career

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008)

On April 2, 1992 Wynonna performed solo on television for the first time at the American Music Awards. She unveiled "She Is His Only Need", her first single off her self titled solo debut album. [2]

In November 2003, Wynonna appeared on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show discussing what she described as a "severe" dependency on food. She had been working with the show in an effort to lose a significant amount of weight and get to the root of her dependency. In September 2005 Wynonna made a second appearance on the show, discussing how she had lost some weight (but had yet to reach her goal weight); had patched up broken relationships with her mother, and with the man she considered "her dad", Michael Ciminella, from whom she had been estranged for almost a decade. Both Naomi and Michael visited Wynonna at the Shades of Hope rehab center in Buffalo Gap, Texas during a family visit, where Wynonna, 42, was being treated for food addiction. In September 2005, in an interview for The Insider, Wynonna also talked about being sexually assaulted by an acquaintance when she was younger.

Wynonna published her memoir, Coming Home to Myself, in September 2005. It became a New York Times Bestseller.

She co-hosted the fourth season of the then-USA Network series Nashville Star with Cowboy Troy.

On October 10, 2006 Wynonna released her first Christmas album, A Classic Christmas, as a solo artist. The single that was released, "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", peaked at number three on the AC charts.

On June 7, 2008 Wynonna sat down for a live Internet chat for her fans in which she was asked questions submitted during the session. Over 6000 fans signed up in a 5 minute span causing the server to crash. A total of 18,000 fans eventually logged on to watch Wynonna's chat live via Stickam.com.

Wynonna will celebrate her 25th year in music with the release of her seventh album, a collection of covers, "SING: CHAPTER 1" in February 2009.

Other accomplishments

Although she is associated with the country genre, she has also ventured into other music genres by allowing her cover version of "I Want to Know What Love Is" to be released as a dance track, where it peaked at number 12 on Billboard Radio Monitor's Hot Dance Airplay chart in 2005.

On June 22, 2000 Judd performed the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Freebird" with the band Phish at a concert of theirs outside Nashville, Tennessee.⁴

Discography

Main article: Wynonna Judd discography

References

• Millard, Bob. (1998). "Wynonna Judd". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 272.
• Millard, Bob. (1998). "The Judds". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 272-3.

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wynonna Judd

• Wynonna official website
• Wynonna at MySpace