Naomi Judd, the 76-year-old country music matriarch of The Judds, has died.

Naomi Judd has passed away. She was 76 years old.

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"Today was a tragic day for our sisters." "We lost our wonderful mother to the disease of mental illness," Wynonna and Ashley Judd said on Twitter on Saturday, April 30. "We've been devastated. We are coping with great sadness and know that, as much as we loved her, the rest of the world does as well. We're in uncharted area."

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The late Kentucky native was one-half of the Grammy-winning duet The Judds, along with Wynonna, who died at the age of 57. The mother-daughter duo were recognised for their singles "Love Can Build a Bridge," "Mama He's Crazy," "Why Not Me," and "Grandpa," and are due to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday, May 1.

Naomi, born Diana Ellen Judd, was a nurse in Nashville when she and Wynonna started performing professionally together. In 1984, they received their first Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group.

The Judds were named as inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame last year and were scheduled to be inaugurated on Sunday. The band had also just announced a farewell tour, which will begin in September. "My family of choice has always been the fans," Judd stated in a statement announcing the tour. "I adore them, so I can't wait to shout out our songs and reunite with them once again."

Naomi Judd was born Diana Ellen Judd on January 11, 1946, in Ashland, Kentucky, and gave birth to Wynonna the week before she graduated from high school. She relocated to Los Angeles in the late 1960s, according to a 1984 New York Times feature at the start of The Judds' ascent, where she worked as a model and secretary before returning to Kentucky with Wynonna and her second daughter, Ashley. It was then that she and Wynonna casually started singing together.

In 2010, Wynonna Judd told NPR's Scott Simon, "I believe it was a natural evolution of Mom hearing my voice and humming along." "All of a sudden, before I realise what's going on, she's verbally tied to me, and it's as if we're one voice."

Naomi and Wynonna relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1979 to seek a singing career. "We went into a hotel, and we all slept in the same bed and ate bologna and crackers," Judd told The Wall Street Journal in 2017. Judd and her daughter finally signed with RCA Records and issued their first EP, Wynonna & Naomi, in 1984. The Judds came to prominence in country music because to their strong mother-daughter connection, stunning red hair, and harmonising voices. Between 1984 and 1991, the trio released six studio albums, collecting 20 Top Ten songs, five Grammy Honors, and nine Country Music Association awards.

Naomi Judd was afflicted with hepatitis C in the 1990s, and Wynonna sought a solo career, thus the Judds discontinued performing. "All the doctors predicted I'd die in three years, and that was in 1990," Judd told NPR in 2010. "I assured them that I was not going to die. I'm feeling vibrant, lively, and healthy."

The couple reunited and performed on occasion in the years thereafter, most recently at the 2022 CMT Awards, when they played "Love Can Build A Bridge." When she wasn't performing with her daughter, Naomi Judd started to write and publish self-help and children's books, including her biography River of Time: My Descent Into Depression and How I Emerged With Hope.

Naomi judd cause of death

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE (KDKA) – Naomi Judd died at the age of 76, just one day before she was to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame alongside her daughter Wynona.

In the 1980s, she and Wynona, known simply as the Judds, dominated a piece of country music and paved a distinctive route for women.

Judd committed herself, and Wynona and Ashley Judd released a statement in which they said they "lost their mum to the disease of mental illness."

Stoney Richards, a long-time Y108 country music DJ, couldn't believe it.

"Naomi was such a strong lady, you'd never expect something to bring her down," he said. "We never expected any of those things to bring us down, but she leaves a fantastic legacy and two beautiful girls, and the music, the music goes on in this profession."