Country Legend With Most Grand Ole Opry Performances Dies At 85

Country music legend Jeannie Seely, 85, known for her songs “Sentimental Journey,” “Don’t Touch Me,” and so many more, has passed away.

On Friday, August 1, Seely’s publicist, Don Murry Grubbs, announced her death.

If an individual performed on stage every day for 14 years and six months straight, it still would not equal the amount of time Seely performed in Nashville.

She earned the nickname “Little Miss Country” and holds the record for most Grand Ole Opry performances at 5,400.

After becoming the first woman to host the Grand Ole Opry, she officially became a member in 1967.

“I have known Jeannie Seely since we were early on in Nashville,” Dolly Parton wrote. “She was one of my dearest friends… we had many wonderful laughs together, cried over certain things together, and she will be missed.”

In Grubbs’ statement, he revealed Seely passed away in hospice care at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee. This was due to complications from an intestinal infection.

According to the statement, Seely had undergone “multiple back surgeries this spring for vertebrae repairs” and underwent “two emergency abdominal surgeries.”

At the time of her death, Seely had spent “11 days in the intensive care unit and [suffered] a bout with pneumonia.”

Numerous artists shared photos and statements honoring Jeannie following her death.

Among those were Alana Springsteen, TG Sheppard, Mark Wills, The Bellamy Brothers, Carly Pearce, Travis Tritt, The Oak Ridge Boys’ Duane Allen, and Louise Mandrell.

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