Jeannie Seely, Grammy-winning country singer and trailblazing Grand Ole Opry star whose soulful voice and sharp wit made her a beloved figure in country music for more than six decades, died today after months of declining health. She was 85.

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Known as Miss Country Soul, Seely‘s hit songs include “Don’t Touch Me,” “A Wanderin’ Man,” and “I’ll Love You More (Than You’ll Need).” Throughout her more than five decades as a Grand Ole Opry member, she performed on the show 5,397 times – more than any other performer.

Seely had battled health issues for nearly a year, worsening in December after the passing of her husband, Gene Ward. She endured multiple back surgeries this spring for vertebrae repairs, as well as two emergency abdominal surgeries. She was at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee, when she passed from complications of an intestinal infection.

Seely was considered to be the oldest actively working female entertainer in country music at the time of her death.

“This lady is very, very special,” said Dan Rogers, senior vp and executive producer of the Grand Ole Opry in 2022. “She is beloved by the staff, her fellow artists, and fans … around the world.”

Jeannie Seely Didn’t Consider Herself a Musician
Seely was also a musician, producer, author, and actress. But humble to her core, she didn’t think of herself as any of those things.

“I don’t consider myself a musician at all,” Seely told the Grizzly Rose. “I’m definitely a songwriter, and even as a singer, I hesitate to call myself a singer because there are so many who sing better. I just like to be known as an entertainer.”

She was born Marilyn Jeanne Seely on July 6, 1940, to Leo Seely and Irene Seely in Titusville, Pennsylvania.

Seely’s mother said her daughter was only four years old when she learned to twist the knob on the family’s large console radio to 650 WSM – the home of the Grand Ole Opry. A little more than 20 years later, the Opry invited Seely to become a member. The Grand Ole Opry star remembered sitting in her family’s car on Saturday nights listening to the Opry, eating popcorn, and drinking a soda while her parents played cards at a friend’s house.

Jeannie Seely was 4 Years Old When She Found the Opry on the Radio
At 11 years old, Seely was on the radio herself – singing on a weekly radio show in nearby Meadville. A few years later, she made it onto television in Erie, Pennsylvania.

She moved to California, where she worked as a secretary for Liberty and Imperial Records. Dottie West convinced her to move to Nashville in 1965.

Seely remembered telling West she didn’t know enough to move to Nashville. West responded, “Jeannie, that’s where you go to learn.”

After arriving in Music City, her “Don’t Touch Me” went Top 5 and won a Grammy Award for Best Country and Western Vocal Performance – Female in 1967. She joined the Grand Ole Opry later that year.

“I started crying,” Seely said, “and then I encored, and that was even worse.”

She and Jack Green began a professional working relationship, charting their top song, “Wish I Didn’t Have to Miss You,” in 1969 – the same year she married fellow country singer-songwriter Hank Cochran. They divorced a decade later.

Seely was also a successful songwriter, writing songs for West, Connie Smith, Willie Nelson, Ray Price, and Faron Young’s 1973 Top 10 hit, “Leavin’ and Sayin’ Goodbye.”

Jeannie Seely was an Actress, Songwriter, Author and Singer
An injury from a 1977 car accident meant she had to take some time off. But when Seely resumed her career, she expanded it. The singer dove into acting, appearing alongside Willie Nelson in the film Honeysuckle Rose. She also became the first female to host the Grand Ole Opry.

Seely was an author by 1989, publishing a book of witticisms called Pieces of a Puzzled Mind.
In the 1990s, she released her self-titled album and her first Christmas project, Number One Christmas. She put out Life’s Highway in 2003, a country/bluegrass collaboration album with Steve Wariner, the Osborne Brothers, and The Whites.

In 2024, Seely recorded West’s 1966 hit “Suffertime” because she wanted to give a classic song her signature blues treatment and “recreate history.”

“I’m just doing things, truthfully, that just sound fun to do,” she told People.

Seely found love again, marrying Gene Ward in 2010. The couple stayed together until his passing in late 2024.

Before his death, Seely wrote: “Gene Ward is one of the most amazing men I have ever known, and I have been so blessed to be his wife.”

She Just Wanted to Be Happy
The country loved to spend her time in her cozy home by the river in Nashville. She often posted photos of the water from her deck, and said she’s never been as content anywhere as she is in her small cottage.

“I don’t live a glamorous lifestyle,” she told the Grizzly Rose. “I’ve never liked that. I don’t live to try and impress anybody. Except being happy. I just want to live my life comfortably, doing what I love to do for a living. I love my neighbors, and my family, and all of my friends. I like to forget that I’m an entertainer or ‘celebrity’ as often as possible.”