NEED TO KNOW
- Jeannie Seely has died at the age of 85
- The country icon died of complications from an intestinal infection
- Seely, who lost her husband Eugene Ward to cancer last December, had been battling health issues for much of 2025
Jeannie Seely has died at the age of 85.
The country star died Friday, Aug. 1 at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee, as a result of complications from an intestinal infection, her rep confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE. Seely, who lost her husband Eugene Ward to cancer last December, had been battling health issues for much of 2025. She’d undergone “multiple back surgeries this spring for vertebrae repairs,” as well as “two emergency abdominal surgeries,” her rep said. At the time, Seely had said she also had spent “11 days in the intensive care unit and [suffered] a bout with pneumonia.”
The country singer first found success with her 1966 song “Don’t Touch Me.” Other songs included “A Wanderin’ Man,” “I’ll Love You More (Than You’ll Need)” and her 1969 duet with Jack Greene Wish I Didn’t Have to Miss You.” Seely was also a dedicated member of the Grand Ole Opry and performed there over 5,300 times.
Seely was born in Titusville, Pa. in 1940 and was raised in nearby Townville. She was the youngest of four children. Her love affair with the Grand Ole Opry began when her family would gather around the radio to listen to their shows on Saturday nights.
“Actually, I knew at 8 years old what I wanted to be,” Seely told PEOPLE in 2022 about her country singing dreams. “And I knew I wanted to be at the Opry.” She was also inspired by the frequent singers who appeared on the program like Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Ernest Tubb, Kitty Wells, Little Jimmy Dickens and Jean Shepard. “I just wanted to know them,” she said. “I wanted to be a part of that family that I heard every week.”
Seely began performing on local radio at age 11. After high school, she worked as a stenographer until, tired of snow, she moved to California in 1961. She worked at a bank, but feeling called to music, she got a job as a secretary at Imperial Records.
Seely also started working as a songwriter. She wrote “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)” with Randy Newman, and it became a hit for R&B singer Irma Thomas. She also wrote songs for Connie Smith, Dottie West and Norma Jean. She signed her own recording contract with California’s Challenge Records and headed to Nashville to record her first demos. In 1965, she moved to Nashville, the center of country music, full-time.
“When I arrived in town, I only had $50 and a Ford Falcon to my name,” Seely told the Erie Times-News in 2015. “But within a month, Porter Wagoner hired me as the female singer for his road show and syndicated television series.”
Seely signed with Nashville’s Monument Records and released 1966’s “Don’t Touch Me.” It became a hit, reaching No. 2 on the US Hot Country Songs. She received Grammy nominations for best country & western recording and best country & western vocal performance – female, winning the latter. She was also nicknamed “Miss Country Soul” because of her soulful singing.
The song’s success also got her an invite to perform at the Opry. She had never even attended a show before. “I was standing shoulder to shoulder in the wings with all my heroes,” she said in 2022 of her first performance. “I had never even seen them in person anywhere — even across the footlights.”
In 1967, she was inducted as a member. “The Opry is just simply a way of life to me,” she said.
But she also helped modernize the stage show. At the time of her first performance, there was an unwritten dress code for women, who only wore gingham and long ruffled skirts. She took to the stage in a mini skirt and faced rebuke from Opry manager Ott Devine after the show.
“I explained that I just moved here from California, and this is what everybody’s wearing,” she said in 2022. “I said, ‘You do know the trend is coming,’ and finally, just jokingly, I said, ‘Okay, I’ll make you a deal. I won’t wear any in the back door if you don’t let anybody come in the front door wearing them because it’s gonna happen.’ And he was like, ‘Well, okay. But just try to hold it down.'” Other women soon abandoned their ruffles.
Seely also pushed for women to be able to host the Opry segments. In 1985, she became the first woman to do so — but only because the male host got stuck in a snowstorm. New management in 1993 finally changed the rule.
“I would go through and bring up the same points and always get told it was tradition or whatever,” she said in 2022 of her drive for equality. She argued that a third of the talent pool was women, and they were being “wasted,” plus, all the women in the audience were being ignored.
She knew that the Opry was too important as a flagship of country music. “Somewhere there’s a little girl listening who wants to be there as badly as I did.”
Seely also had Top 20 country hits with 1966’s “It’s Only Love,” 1967’s “A Wanderin’ Man” and 1968’s “I’ll Love You More (Than You Need).” In 1969, she released “Wish I Didn’t Have to Miss You” with Greene. It reached No. 2 on the country art and gave Seely her third Grammy nomination. They released multiple duet albums together, while Seely also continued to release solo recordings.
Seely married country songwriter Hank Cochran in 1969; her 1967 album Thanks, Hank! was named for him because he’d written all the songs. In 1977, she was in a car accident. Her injuries included a fractured jaw, broken ribs and a punctured lung. Her career began to suffer in the years after. She and Cochran divorced in 1981, and she and Greene ended their partnership the next year.
She appeared with Willie Nelson on the soundtrack for 1980’s Honeysuckle Rose and began touring alongside him. She also dabbled in acting, appearing in the musicals Takin’ It Home and a Nashville revival of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. She began recording and releasing music again in the ‘90s.
Seely was a four-time CMA Award nominee, and in 2023 she received the honorary Joe Talbot Award, which honors outstanding leadership and contributions to the preservation and advancement of Country Music’s values and tradition. She released over 15 studio albums.
She married Nashville attorney Gene Ward in 2010.
Seely continued to appear at the Opry throughout her life. In 2022 she celebrated 55 years as a member — and over 5,300 appearances in the show, a record. At the time, she still appeared two to three times a week.
In 2024, Seely released a new song, “Suffertime” and was working on new music. “This is crazy,” she told PEOPLE in 2024 when the song was released. “It’s just phenomenal that I’m still able to be doing this.”
“I just feel blessed every day,” she said of her long career. “I tell everybody I’m not retired; I just quit working. They’re two different things. I only do what I enjoy. If it sounds like too much work, I just know we don’t want to do that.”
Seely is survived by extended family, friends, and her special cat, Corrie. The Aug. 2 Grand Ole Opry will be dedicated to her.
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