A reporter from the Associated Press was recently going through some old documentation on-line and found something a bit controversial, Loretta Lynn's birth certificate.
The certificate says that Lynn was born on April 14, 1932, which would make the singer 80. That wouldn't be a problem except that most biographical information says that she is 77.
Loretta has never come straight out and said how old she was, but she said in her 1976 biography, Coal Miner's Daughter, that she was 13 when she married O.V. "Mooney" Lynn in 1948, a "fact" that has become a major part of her life story. Unfortunately, it appears that it isn't true as she would have been 15 (almost 16) on January 10, 1948 which is the date on her marriage certificate.
Further digging by the AP has turned up even more documents to support the new age. Her marriage license states the age of 15 (legal at the time in Kentucky) and two affidavits signed by her family that establishes the 1932 date.
So, it looks like one of the favorite pieces of trivia about Loretta Lynn may actually be a fable, but it doesn't diminish in one bit the importance and impact her career has had to the world of music.
