Tammy Wynette: A Daughter Recalls her Mother's Tragic Life and Death [Hardcover]

Jackie Daly (Author), Tom Carter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2000

A loving and astonishingly revealing portrait of America's most popular female country vocalist by her daughter, Jackie.

Tammy Wynette arrived in Nashville in 1964 in a dented station wagon with her three young daughters, whose tricycles were tied to the car's roof. Raw talent, gritty determination, and a bit of luck soon lifted Tammy from poverty to fame and ultimately fortune. Tammy Wynette: My Mother's Story looks behind the extraordinary success story, exploring Wynette's life from the vantage of her closest confidante: her daughter, Jackie--a life that continues to make headlines even after her controversial death.

Wynette was a survivor, but her journey was more than bumpy: five marriages; twenty-six major surgeries; multiple platinum hits; a stint at the Betty Ford Center for drug addiction; a mysterious 1978 abduction during which she was savagely beaten; millions of fans; the loyalty and friendship of Nashville's greatest stars, who would turn out in droves to mourn her passing. And always the little-known constant in her life: motherhood.

With the aid of veteran biographer Tom Carter, Jackie Daly recounts the tragedies as well as triumphs--and probes the final mysteries--of her beloved mother's remarkable life. Never-before-seen personal photographs, revealing interviews, and treasured memorabilia help bring Wynette's dramatic, inspiring story to life.

Illustrated with 16 pages of black-and-white photographs

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Country singer Tammy Wynette died in 1998 after a lifetime of medical problems and an addiction to painkillers. Now Daly, Wynette's second-oldest daughter, has written an account of the singer's troubled life from the perspective of a young woman who helplessly watched her mother fall apart. The memoir begins with the confusing, surreal days following Wynette's death. Daly then backs up, giving voice to the resentment she felt growing up, overlooked by a busy, famous mother who had little time for child rearing. Daly pays scant attention to Wynette's relationship to Nashville's country music establishment and scoots over the singer's rise to fame, choosing instead to focus on the personal problems that plagued Wynette's life and eventually ended it. An over-romantic dependence on men led Wynette to a string of loveless marriages and an increasing lack of control over her career. Recurring abdominal problems, compounded by multiple operations and a demanding performance schedule, left her dependent on feeding tubes and catheters. Most debilitating was her addiction to prescription painkillers (such as the opiate Demerol) that persisted despite several attempts at treatment and intervention. Daly, a loyal daughter, holds her mother's doctor and last husband responsible for not stemming her descent. This book captures the complicated relationship of a daughter to a mother who needed more parenting and guidance than her children did. Unfortunately, the writing is weak, and the tone of desperation that closes the book makes it feel more like a tabloid interview than a memoir. Photos not seen by PW. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Daly decided to write this touching biography while her mother was still alive and, with her mother's blessing, to pick up where Wynette left off in her autobiography, Stand by Your Man (S.&S., 1979. o.p.). To Daly, her mother was a down-to-earth, fun-loving woman who unwound by cooking for her family and friends and shopping with her children. Of course, she had heard stories about various events in Wynette's lifeDa failed stint at the Betty Ford Center, bankruptcyDbut had not witnessed much of it. Her intention was to clarify those events while getting to know her mother better. With her mother's death in 1998 at 55, the focus of Daly's book changed somewhat. Although Wynette was in poor health, her sudden death was still a shock, and its mysterious circumstances compelled Daly to seek the truth and protect her mother's legacy. A wrongful death suit is now pending. Libraries with Wynette's autobiography will want to acquire Daly's book, as fans will be requesting it. Recommended for country music collections and public libraries.
-DKathleen Sparkman, Baylor Univ., Waco, TX
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First edition (May 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399145982
• ISBN-13: 978-0399145988
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #610,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Give Jackie a break....., March 26, 2002

By 

Jimbo - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Tammy Wynette: A Daughter Recalls her Mother's Tragic Life and Death (Hardcover)

After reading all the customer reviews concerning this book(most of them very negative) I decided to purchase this book and form my own opinion. This book is about a daughter who lost her mother in death, a death that obviously came as a surprise to the entire family, including Tammy's husband, George Richey. Understandably, at least to me, her daughter, Jackie, wanted to know exactly what the cause of her mother's death was. Is that so unreasonable? It's my understanding from reading the book that the doctor who diagnosed her cause of death did so over the telephone without ever even examining the body. This was apparently "good enough" for Tammy's husband, but her daughter wanted a more realistic explanation. George Richey refused to help resolve this very troubling situation, having the belief that Tammy's dead and what does it really matter how she died--nothing is going to bring her back. That (understandably) wasn't good enough for Jackie, so she and her sisters had no choice but to sue Mr. Richey in an effort to find the truth as to what the cause of their mother's death really was.

Despite claims by others, I don't view Jackie as a gold digger trying to cash in on the fame of her mother. She has every right to know what happened to her mother and why. If Mr. Richey would have simply cooperated, this book need never have been written. The book is a sad story about a family that has been torn apart by the tragic death of someone they all loved. The fact that Tammy Wynette was a country superstar is the only reason the public is interested in the first place. If this same situation had happened with a non-celeberty family, the same questions would have been asked and the outcome would most likely have been the same. So I say, give Jackie a break. The woman is doing the best she can to try and deal with the death of her beloved mother. Let her grieve in her own way and don't be so judgemental. My heart goes out to her.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT DOWN, August 4, 2005

By 

Cferen (Evansville, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tammy Wynette: A Daughter Recalls her Mother's Tragic Life and Death (Hardcover)

Wynette's death will always be shrouded in mystery. She was gone long before she should have been (a lot of it brought on by herself but most of it brought on by her dependence on others who thought they knew best, namely George Richey (the fortune hunter who used Tammy's name for exploitation and furthering his own selfish purposes. And her doctor who kept filling her up with "drugs" until her body shut down because she couldn't take any more!) Jackie Daly takes us through the painful memories of the sad day of her mother's death, shrouded in mystery (WHY DID THEY WAIT SO LONG TO CALL THE CORONERS TO PICK UP THE BODY??? WHY DID THIS PARTICULAR DOCTOR HAVE TO FLY IN FROM WEST VIRGINIA OR PENNSYLVANIA OR NEW JERSEY OR WHEREVER HE WAS FROM TO CONFIRM THE DEATH??? WHY DID GEORGE RICHEY, NOT LONG AFTER TAMMY DIED BEGIN DATING A DALLAS COWBOY CHEERLEADER?) I give props to Tammy's daughters for standing up for the truth. The only people here who gave one star reviews were probably George Richey advocates who knew his agenda long before Tammy's daughters did. And it was clear..he did have an agenda. We certainly did not need this book to tell us that.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's About Mothers and Daughters !!, September 8, 2000

By 

Mcgivern Owen L (NY, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Tammy Wynette: A Daughter Recalls her Mother's Tragic Life and Death (Hardcover)

In my opinion, many of the reviews posted for "A Daughter Recalls" are unflattering and unfair to the author. I do not believe she is a little golddigger, self-serving or dishonoring her mom. We have to face 3 basic facts: 1) Regardless of the role George Richey (husband # 5) played -or didn't play- in Tammy's untimely death, all should agree that the circumstances of her demise were very strange and beg certain questions. I feel Jackie is merely trying to air these questions publicly. 2) This is not(!) a true biography. Such a definitive story has yet to be written. "A Daughter Recalls" is much more concerned with Tammy's later years and especially with her phsical problems and various addictions/afflictions. And Tammy's own "Stand By Your Man" deals only with her life until 1979 - in a highly "sanitized" fashion. When the ultimate story does appear, I'll stand in line to buy it. 3) Most importantly, I believe " A Daugher Reacalls" is about a girl who loved her mother-but mom was rarely home. She was always on the go. There was little "quality time". To make matters worse, there was the "little matter" of the 5 marriages to men who took advantage (#s 2-4-5) or were drunks (#3). Good old boy Euple Byrd (#1) seems like the best of the bunch. With mom gone all the time, not always in the best of health-AND saddled with 4 inadequate step-fathers- you would expect Jackie and her sisters (She must be the spokesperson) to be devastated by Tammy's death-all the more so because she died under a cloud of suspicion. Strange that I feel the need to defend the author from reviewers but I hope the 4 sisters find some peace and closure in Tammy's death. I must admit the story has one prime flaw: It gave the definite air of a book rushed to print- perhaps before a final editing job. Too bad but not fatal. Classic country fans and certainly Tammy fans can ignore this (and the various carping at the author!) and safely buy. It's not a true biography but it's well worth a hardcover price.