American country music artist Wynonna Judd has an estimated net worth of $12 million. In the 1980s, Ashley and her mother Naomi rose to prominence as the country music duo The Judds, before she embarked on a solo career in the early 1990s.
Early Years
Wynonna Judd was born Christina Claire Ciminella in Ashland, Kentucky on May 30, 1964. Her mother was the vocalist Naomi Judd. She was given the surname Ciminella in honor of Michael Ciminella, whom her mother soon married after being abandoned by her fiancé and Judd’s biological father, Charles Jordan, who passed away in 2000.
Ashley Judd is her younger half-sister and an actress. The family relocated to Los Angeles in 1968, but by 1972, Naomi and Michael had divorced. In 1976, Wynonna and Naomi lived in Kentucky, where Wynonna drew inspiration from her mother’s constant playing of country music and started to play guitar after receiving one for Christmas.
Personal Life
In 1996, Judd wed Arch Kelly III. In December 1994, they welcomed a son, Elijah Judd. During this period, her career was negatively harmed by the fact that she had a child “out of wedlock,” as her fanbase was predominantly conservative. D.R. Roach was her second spouse, whom she wed in November 2003. Roach was arrested in 2007 for sexually assaulting a kid younger than 13 years old.
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She filed for divorce after five days. On June 10, 2012, Judd married Cactus Moser, the drummer for the band Highway 101, at her house in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. Two months later, Moser was severely injured in a motorbike accident in South Dakota, resulting in the amputation of his left leg.
Clan Judd
The Judds relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in 1979 to pursue a musical career as a mother-daughter combo. The Judds charted 23 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts between 1983 and 1991, including 14 number ones. In addition, they released eight studio albums, one Christmas album, and two collections of their greatest hits.
Throughout their six-year career, The Judds sold over 20 million records worldwide and received over 60 industry honors, including five Grammy nominations, nine County Music Association awards (seven consecutive), and eight Billboard Music Awards. Until Brooks & Dunn surpassed them in the 1990s, they were the best-selling combo in country music.
Following her 1991 farewell tour, a persistent case of hepatitis C caused Naomi to retire early. Wynonna and her mother reunited in 1999 for a K-Mart-sponsored New Year’s Eve show.
In 2000, they started on a joint tour, and four new Judds songs were released. They reunited in 2010 for an 18-city tour titled “The Last Encore.” As a result of the successful tour, they published a new album titled “I Will Stand by You: Essential Collection” in April 2011, which included two new songs and twelve of their biggest hits.
Solo Career
After the duo parted ways, Wynonna signed to MCA Records as a solo artist, performing as simply Wynonna. In January 1992, she performed solo on TV for the first time at the American Music Awards, unveiling her first single, “She Is His Only Need”, from her self-titled solo debut album.
The single went to No. 1 on the Billboard country singles charts that year, as did the album’s next three singles, “I Saw the Light” “My Strongest Weakness” and “No One Else on Earth.” Her second album, platinum-selling “Tell Me Why”, was released in 1993 and spawned five consecutive Top Ten hits on the country charts: “Only Love,” “Is It Over Yet,” “Rock Bottom,” and “Girls with Guitars”, which was written by Mary Chapin Carpenter, and “Tell Me Why.” Wynonna won the ACM Female Artist of the Year award in 1993. Not being present at the ceremony, her mother Naomi accepted the award on Wynonna’s behalf.
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In 1996, Wynonna released “Revelations,” her third album that was also certified platinum and led off with her fourth and final No. 1 hit, “To Be Loved by You.” Her fourth and final album under the MCA label was “The Other Side,” It did not sell as well as her first three and earned only a gold certification, and its lead singles were not as popular as her previous ones. She then left MCA in favor of Mercury Records.
In 1999, Wynonna released her fifth solo album “New Day Dawning.” Her sixth studio album “What the World Needs Now Is Love” was released in 2003, with the lead singles faring well. Included in the tracks was a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love.” In 2005, Wynonna released “Her Story: Scenes from a Lifetime.” “Sing: Chapter 1,” was released in 2009 and was largely composed of cover songs.
She released a new single, “Love It Out Loud”, in May 2011. In March 2013, she released her single, “Something You Can’t Live Without,” off her next album. Judd released a new studio album, “Wynonna & The Big Noise” on February 12, 2016. The album produced two singles: “Jesus and a Jukebox” and “Things I Lean On.”