Everyone knows that Wynonna is Kentucky’s own Wynonna Judd. She first came to prominence as part of the wildly successful mother-daughter duo The Judds, whose first RCA album was released in 1984. During their years performing together, Wynonna and mother Naomi sold more than 20 million records worldwide and won five Grammys, nine Country Music Association Awards, and eight Billboard Music Awards. Naomi retired in 1991, but she reunited with Wynonna for a four-month tour in 2000 that was one of the top 10 grossing country music tours of the year.
As a solo artist, Wynonna signed her first record deal with MCA Records, which released her first album—Wynonna—in 1992. It sold more than five million copies, at the time the highest figure for any debut album by a female artist.
That impressive debut was followed by two platinum recordings, Tell Me Why and Revelations, and two gold records, a greatest hits compilation titled Collection and The Other Side. In 2000, Wynonna produced as well as recorded New Day Dawning.
Wynonna has sold more than 9 million records, was named the Female Vocalist of the Year in 1994 by the Academy of Country Music, and has had 13 Top Ten hits on the charts. It was no wonder that her appearance at the grand re-opening of the Paramount Arts Center in her hometown of Ashland in January 2002 brought in a sell-out crowd. She appeared with a six-piece band with two keyboardists and three back-up singers. Later in the program, she was joined on stage by her mother for a performance of several of their hits together as the Judds, as well as by her sister, actress Ashley Judd.
