Aug. 2 (UPI) — Singer Jeannie Seely, who helped transform the image of women in country music, has died. She was 85.
Seely died Friday in a hospice in the Nashville area, the Country Music Association said, and her publicist, Don Murray Grubbs told told The Tennessean that she died after an intestinal infection.
Seely made her debut at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry in 1966 when she was 25, going on to make 5,397 appearances, including her last appearance on Feb. 22, more than any other performer appearing there.
“While I’ve had the privilege of working with Jeannie Seely over the past 25 years, my immediate grief is deeply personal,” Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern said. “She mentored countless artists, especially women, and while they learned from her confidence and wit, she reminded us she was learning from them too. That humility was part of her magic.”
Seely became the first woman to host the Grand Ole Opry show, and in 1985 was the first woman to host a half-segment of the Opry.
“I feel very fortunate to be part of the Opry tradition and I truly am indebted to all the wonderful fans who have supported me over the years,” Seely once said, according to Opry.com.
Between 1966 and 1974, she had more than a dozen Top 40 country hits, including Don’t Touch Me, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard country chart and appeared on the mainstream Hot 100.
A variety of other singers, including folk singer Carolyn Hester, reggae artist Nicky Thomas and soul music legend Etta James, recorded versions of the the song, which favors emotional commitment over sexual gratification.
That song earned her the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1967. It was written by Hank Cochran, who became her husband. They later divorced in 1979, and in 2010 she married Nashville lawyer Gene Ward, who died last year.
Other hit singles of heres included All Right (I’ll Sign the Papers) in 1971 about divorce; Welcome Home to Nothing in 1968 about a marriage gone bad and Take Me to Bed in 1978.
“I think of myself as a feminist,” she said. “My idea of ‘feminist’ is to make sure that women have the same choices that men have always had, and that we are respected for our roles — whatever they are — as much as any man is respected for his.”
Seely changed the image of performers with her songs and wearing miniskirts and go-go boots, including on the usually conservative Opy stage.
“I was the main woman that kept kicking on that door to get to host the Opry segments,” Seely told the Nashville Scene newspaper in 2005. “I used to say to my former manager Hal Durham, ‘Tell me again why is it women can’t host on the Opry?’ He’d rock on his toes and jingle his change and say, ‘It’s tradition, Jeannie.’ And I’d say, ‘Oh, that’s right. It’s tradition. It just smells like discrimination.'”
Seely was born on July 6 in Titusville, Pa., and later changed her name from Seeley to Seely. She first performed on radio station WMGW in Meadville, Pa., at 11 years old.
Seely worked at Imperial Records in Hollywood, Calif., as a secretary.
She wrote the song Anyone Who Knows What Love is (Will Understand) with Randy Newman and two other collaborators. It reached the the Hot 100 in a version by Irma Thomas in 1964. Boyz II Men and others more than 50 years later recorded the song, which was used in episodes of the science-fiction TV series Black Mirror.
In 1965, she signed with Challenge Records, which was owned by Gene Autry. Seely moved to Nashville in 1969 with her husband. She signed with Monument Records, where Don’t Touch Me was recorded.
The singer turned to bluegrass in the 2000’s, including singing a duet with Ralph Stanley.
In 2005, in her mid 60s, she sang with country singers Kathy Mattea and Pam Tillis in the Nashville production of The Vagina Monologues.
Seely was seriously injured in an auto crash in 1977. Earlier this year, she had back surgery and had complications. She had abdominal surgery in April and then contracted pneumonia before celebrating her 85th birthday on July 6.
“Over the past several weeks, I’ve received so many wonderful messages of love and concern about being missed on the Grand Ole Opry and on ‘Sundays with Seely’ on Willie’s Roadhouse,” she told fans in May. “Thank you for those, and I assure you that I miss you just as much!”
