Jeannie Seely, Razor-Sharp Country Singer Known as ‘Miss Country Soul,' Dead at 85
The music legend had battled health issues since last fall and undergone multiple back surgeries this spring for vertebrae repairs, including two emergency abdominal surgeries.
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A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1967, Seely was a magnetic presence onstage and off, quick with a one-liner or a knowing wink of the eye, both of which only made songs like 'Don't Touch Me,' 'I'll Love You More (Than You Need),' and 'Can I Sleep in Your Arms' more engaging. Her lived-in, soulful singing style didn't hurt either, earning her the nickname of 'Miss Country Soul.' She was daring in her fashion and is credited with being the first woman to wear a miniskirt on the Grand Ole Opry stage. In 1974 — nearly 20 years before Shania Twain made it commonplace in country music — Seely performed at the Opry in a midriff-baring top. She also successfully lobbied to have women host the Opry.
'I go down in history for the mini skirt, but the significance wasn't what I was wearing,' she told Forbes in 2022, 'but that it broke the mold of what everybody else was wearing.'
Seely was born Marilyn Jeanne Seely, the youngest of four, in Titusville in the northwest region of Pennsylvania and raised on a steady diet of country music. She began singing as a child and was a regular fixture on local radio. In her teens, she appeared on television in nearby Erie, Pennsylvania, to sing on air, and by the time she was 21 had moved to Los Angeles to wholeheartedly pursue a career in music. Gigs as a DJ, a secretary at a record label, and a songwriter followed, and in 1965 she lit out for Nashville at the suggestion of both the singer Dottie West and the songwriter Hank Cochran.
Her first hit, 'Don't Touch Me,' was a Cochran composition and landed Seely a Grammy for Best Country & Western Vocal Performance – Female in 1966. She and Cochran began a professional relationship, with Seely recording a string of his songs, including 1967's 'I'll Love You More (Than You Need)' and 1968's 'Welcome Home to Nothing.' In 1969, Seely and Cochran married.
Over the decade they were together, Seely continued to record a number of Cochran songs, like 1973's 'Lucky Ladies.' Some she rendered as duets with the singer Jack Greene, including 'Wish I Didn't Have to Miss You' and 'What in the World Has Gone Wrong With Our Love.' Seely and Cochran divorced in 1979. In 2010, she married the attorney Eugene Ward and remained married to him until his death in 2024.
On Friday, Dolly Parton praised Seely as 'one of the greater singers in Nashville' and lauded her sense of humor. 'We had many wonderful laughs together, cried over certain things together and she will be missed,' Parton wrote on social media.
Along with her career as a performer, Seely also had success as a songwriter. Ray Price recorded her song 'Enough to Lie,' Dottie West cut 'Another Heart for You to Break,' and Merle Haggard interpreted the Seely solo write 'My Love for You' on his 1977 album Ramblin' Fever.
But above all, Seely was synonymous with the Grand Ole Opry. She made her debut on the long-running radio show in 1966. The following year, she became an official member. At the time of her death, Seely held the record for the most performances at the Opry, with more than 5,300 appearances. Her last was in February 2025. 'The Opry is a way of life, my way of life, and I wouldn't have it any other way,' she said in 2022. 'This is where my heart is.'
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