Twenty-eight years ago today (Jan. 20, 1995), Wynonna Judd was undoubtedly toasting her own success. It was on that date that her eponymous album from 1992, her first as a solo artist, was certified quadruple platinum, for sales in excess of 4 million copies.
Wynonna was released one year after the Judds, Judd’s duo with her mother, Naomi Judd, disbanded when the elder Judd was diagnosed with Hepatitis C.
Wynonna album
“I went through every possible emotion,” Wynonna Judd says of branching out as a solo artist. “I felt terrified. I felt frustrated and resentful of the fact that … all of a sudden — bam! My mother was gone. I didn’t speak to Mama for a month. I had to leave home, you know, pack my bags, just take off … It was the most alone I have ever been in my life, and the most depressed.”
Judd took eight months to record Wynonna, but her hard work paid off: The record spawned three No. 1 singles, “She Is His Only Need,” “I Saw the Light” and “No One Else on Earth.” The album, which spent four weeks at the top of the charts, also earned a CMA nomination for Album of the Year.
Wynonna is available for purchase on Amazon.
This story was originally written by Gayle Thompson, and revised by Annie Zaleski.
PICTURES: The Judds Through the Years
Take a look back at these snapshots of Naomi and Wynonna Judd, from the beginnings of their country music career to their final appearance together in 2022.