Wynonna Judd
#
241
Ranking
Hall of Famer
BIRTHDATE
BIRTHPLACE
Ashland
,
KY
,
USA
62
5
'
5
"
Wynonna Judd is an Ashland, Kentucky-born country legend who went from harmonizing with her mother Naomi in rural Kentucky to recording 14 number-one hits as one half of the most commercially successful duo in country music history, then launched a solo career that sold five million copies of her debut album, earned a Country Music Hall of Fame induction, and continues to thrill audiences in 2026 on the "Raised On Radio Tour" with Melissa Etheridge, all while carrying with her the profound loss of her mother Naomi, who died just one day before The Judds were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Current Tour & Setlist
Wynonna's "Raised On Radio Tour" with co-headliner Melissa Etheridge launches June 24, 2026, at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia, and runs through September with 27 dates across iconic outdoor venues including Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego, and Marymoor Park near Seattle. Fans can expect a setlist blending Judds classics including "Mama He's Crazy," "Why Not Me," and "Love Can Build a Bridge" with her biggest solo hits "She Is His Only Need," "No One Else on Earth," "I Saw the Light," and "To Be Loved by You."
Early Life
Born Christina Claire Ciminella on May 30, 1964, in Ashland, Kentucky, Wynonna Judd was the daughter of Diana Ellen Judd (later Naomi), who became pregnant at 17 and gave birth two weeks before her own high school graduation, raising Wynonna largely alone after her marriage to Michael Ciminella disintegrated and the family moved repeatedly between California and rural Kentucky. Wynonna's musical talent emerged during the family's years in rural Morrill, Kentucky, where Naomi worked as a nurse and the two began harmonizing together to folk and bluegrass records, drawing inspiration from artists like Bonnie Raitt and the bluegrass duo Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, before packing up once more and heading to Nashville in 1979 with a shared dream and very little else.
Career Highlights
The Judds' big break came through an unlikely connection: one of Naomi's nursing patients turned out to be the daughter of record producer Brent Maher, who arranged an audition for RCA Records executives in early 1983, leading to a deal that launched one of the most remarkable runs in country music history. Between 1984 and 1991, The Judds produced 14 number-one singles, won five Grammys and nine CMA Awards, and became the most commercially successful duo in country music history, before Naomi was forced to retire due to a hepatitis C diagnosis in 1991, leaving Wynonna to launch a solo career the following year. Her self-titled 1992 solo debut sold five million copies, making it the first debut solo country album by a female artist to reach that milestone, and she went on to score six number-one solo hits including "She Is His Only Need," "No One Else on Earth," and "I Saw the Light," earn a Country Music Hall of Fame induction as part of The Judds in 2022, and receive the inaugural Country Champion Award at the People's Choice Country Awards in 2023.
Family & Personal Life
Wynonna was married three times: to Nashville businessman Arch Kelley III (January 1996 to 1998), with whom she had son Elijah (born December 1994) and daughter Grace (born 1996); to former bodyguard D.R. Roach (2003 to 2007); and finally to Highway 101 drummer Cactus Moser, whom she first met on tour in 1989 and married on June 10, 2012, after reconnecting romantically in 2009. Her half-sister is actress Ashley Judd, and Wynonna has spoken with raw honesty about the most devastating moment of her life: arriving at the hospital after her mother Naomi Judd died by suicide on April 30, 2022, holding her in her arms, and then walking into the Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony the very next morning because, as she told the People's Choice Country Awards audience, "that's how much we love music."
