Jeannie Seely, a country star from the 1960s and 70s who had been a favorite from the Grand Ole Opry public in her enthronement in 1967 to the present day, died on Friday at the age of 85.
Selyry played for the last time on Opry on February 22 of this year – its 5,397th OPRY performances, which exceeded the number of any other artist in the history of the lively hundred -year -old broadcast. Not only on Opry, but in general, Seely was considered the oldest country singer who works regularly. (Among all the stars of the current opry, Bill Anderson had a few years on her; he is 87 years old.)
Beyond Opry, Selyry was a familiar name for the young generations of country fans as host of a weekly Siriusxm program which has been taking place on Willie’s Roadhouse channel since 2018.
His publicist reported that Sely died at 5 p.m. CT at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee, complications due to intestinal infection. Although she continued to perform on Opry until February of this year, she had recently suffered from several health problems, which this year included two abdominal emergency surgeries and several back surgeries.
Dolly Parton was among the stars weighing quickly with reflections on the death of Selyry. “I have known Jeanie Seely since we were at the start of Nashville,” said Parton in a message on Instagram. “She was one of my dearest friends. I think she was one of the biggest singers in Nashville and that she had a wonderful sense of humor. We have had a lot of wonderful laughs together, shouted on certain things together and we will miss it. ”
Photo by Jeannie Selyry around 1970. Photo by Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images
Michael Ochs archives
Sunny Sweeney, one of the traditionalists of the younger country who venerated Sely, spoke of learning death while playing Opry on Friday evening. “Tonight, I played the Opry for the 77th time for the release of my new album which is released today,” wrote Sweeney on Instagram. “I was installed in the locker room of Jeannie Selyry and I had a rehearsal at 4:40 p.m. my rehearsal was moved at 5:40 p.m. at the last minute, so I was sitting in her room, where I spent so many nights with her and gene [her late husband] Over the years, when she died through the city at 5:00 p.m. I cannot explain what this coincidence means for me for the rest of my life. I will miss you forever, my friend … and I promise to wear your torch with pride forever. I loved you hard and knowing that you were one of the greatest honors of my life … I cried on stage and I know that she was riding my eyes on me, telling me not to spoil my eye makeup.
In 2021, Variety Profile of Sely’s history with Opry, visiting its behind the scenes at the Opry House just before the 5,000th program of the show. “Jeannie Selyry is living proof that, in country music circles, it is possible to go to her aging,” the article began.
She then talked about what it was to hang out with the late little Jimmy Dickens in the locker room in which we met. “I had vocal problems because I have esophagus problems, and I went to him and I said:” What are you doing? “He said,” Lower the keys and tell more bullshit “.” She told Variety that Dickens influenced the tone of her act. “In my first years, I remember that there was like Eddie Arnold, who was always a serious singer, and then there would be an actor. But it was Jimmy Dickens who was the first who made me realize that you can make both – being a serious and also funny singer – and that’s what I wanted to do. “
Sely’s first major success was “Don’t Touch Me” from 1966, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Country list. (He also became his lonely entry 100, culminating there at n ° 85. She reached the top 10 of the country twice as much as a solo artist, with “I will love you (more than you need)” (n ° 10 in 1967) and “can I sleep in your arms” (n ° 6 in 1973), and once as a duo partner of Jack Greene, with “Wish I’m 1969).
Her series of cartography singles lasted until 1977, although she continued to release new albums as recently as “An American Classic” from 2020, which included collaborations with Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Lorrie Morgan, Waylon Payne and others.
She won her only Grammy for “Do’t Touch Me” in the Recording Country & Western category in 1967. Seeley obtained two additional Grammy’s nursing in the following years.
Originally from Pennsylvania, Seely spent time in Los Angeles to work in a bank, then as secretary to the Liberty / Imperial documents before moving to Nashville in 1965 with $ 50 in pocket. Her first husband, legendary singer-songwriter Hank Cochran, gave him a step ahead when the refusals came quickly and furious.
“I had met Hank Cochran in California because I had dottie West and Justin Tubb. They have somehow opened doors,” she said in an interview with classic groups. “Hank has taken one of my demonstration bands in many of the places. Then, later, finally, including Fred Foster in Monument, Hank was so frustrated. I remember that he took me to Monument, in Fred’s office around 5:30 am one evening when everyone leaves you the office. I always laughed later. But thank God, he just said, “Okay.
Seely did not meet a small amount of sexism along the way. There was even an integrated level of condescension when it was supplemented by no less a public figure than President Richard Nixon, who looks at her during his visit to the Opry in 1974 and said: “Some girls seem but cannot sing. Others can sing but do not seem. Jeannie Seely did both.”
There was a glass ceiling at the Opry for many years of his mandate there. “One of the things that I am very proud of is is the fast that the doors are finally open to women. These are women cannot host the opry, but I forget: “And he would say:” It’s the Jeannie tradition “, and I said:” Oh, it’s true, it’s tradition, it just smells discrimination. Things turned around, however, with a change of administration. “I was very aware, however, that when Bob Whitaker came as a manager and opened the doors and allowed me above all to do it, I knew that I had to do my homework, I knew that I had to be careful, I had to do things well or that the door would be criticized again, not only on me, but on many of them, which put things behind me.”
Selyry says Variety In 2021, she never told the Opry No when they invited her to perform. “If the phone rings and I see that it is Dan (Rogers), I never say” hello “. I just say: “Yes”.
At the Opry, she said, there was little generation gap. “I always try to impress this on young artists who have not grown up on Opry: it is not a normal concert hall. It is not a normal show. There are generally three generations represented on this scene, and you will see three generations in the audience, you do not see that nowhere else. To sporting things, there could be in the crowd, but not on the ground, you think? unique.”
The Grand Ole Opry Saturday evening edition will be dedicated to Seely.
Jeannie Selyry performs at the Durango Music Spot in Fan Fair X on Thursday, June 9 at the 2016 CMA music festival in downtown Nashville.
Kayla Schoen / CMA
Sely’s husband, Gene Ward, died in December. Her three brothers and sisters also preceded her in death.
She had no children, but there was a great asterisk on this subject, as she explained in an interview with Country Stars Central. “I didn’t give birth to any children, but i had three stepsons when i was married with hank cochran and helpd raise three stepsons there,” she said, “and i helpd raise two of jack greene’s sounds because the one. Experience, but the greatbabies are all a new experience for me. Well, that’s what I did. “”
Among the other testimonies, Sarah Trahern, CEO of the Country Music Association, said: “Although I had the privilege of working with Jeannie Selyry in the past 25 years, my immediate sorrow is deeply personal. At the start of my mandate at the CMA, I shared unforgettable lunches with Jeannie and Jo Walker Meador, full of jacks with a first fan with a first fan with a first fan but always fascinating but still fascinating. Greene and remained a beloved element for decades. of his magic.
So asked for which she hoped she would remember, Seeley said: “Well, I hope people will remember me like a good person, number one, and I hope they will remember me with a smile. I hope I made people laugh, I hope it will be a good memory for everyone and I hope they will remember that, number one, I was still not having come. They will remember that I was only one of them;
Jeannie Selyry performs at the Greding Lightning Riverfront Park Stages “Rope Legends Show” on Sunday June 13 in downtown Nashville at the 2004 CMA music festival, “Country Music’s Biggest Party”.
Theresa Montgomery / CMA
