Wynonna Artistfacts

May 30, 1964
Wynonna first found fame as half of the country-music duo The Judds alongside her mother, Naomi. For nearly a decade, they were a staple on Country radio, with 14 singles going to #1. After their abrupt breakup in the early '90s due to Naomi's health issues, Wynonna launched a successful solo career.
Her real name is Christina Ciminella. She borrowed the name Wynonna from the song "Route 66," which references an Arizona town called Winona.
She told Larry King her biggest regret was never meeting her dad. Her mom, Naomi, was still in high school when she became pregnant with Wynonna and married her on-again/off-again boyfriend Michael Ciminella. Wynonna always assumed Ciminella was her biological father, but was shocked to learn her real dad was a man named Charles Jordan. She was making plans to meet him for the first time when he died in 2000.
Despite four nominations, she's never won a Grammy Award as a solo artist.
Her first trio of singles as a solo artist all went to #1 on the Country chart: "She Is His Only Need," "I Saw The Light," and "No One Else On Earth."
Her singing style has often been compared to Bonnie Raitt, who is one of Wynonna's musical heroes.
As a member of The Judds, Wynonna was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on May 1, 2021 - just one day after her mother's suicide.
She's been married three times. Her first husband was businessman Arch Kelley III, the father of her children, Elijah and Grace. Her second husband was her former bodyguard D.R. Roach, whom she divorced after he was charged with sexually assaulting a minor. Her current husband is Highway 101 drummer Cactus Moser.
After a 10-year break from the recording studio, Wynonna cut her 2026 album, The Hard Truth, which finds her grappling with her mother's suicide on "All Downhill From Ashland" and her nonexistent relationship with her biological father on "Girl Who Could Sing." Some fans criticized the singer for airing her family's dirty laundry, but Wynonna argued the only way to heal was to get everything out in the open. She told the Off The Record podcast:

"The keyboard cowards have said, 'Why are you doing this now that she's gone?' Well, we kept a secret, and secrets keep you sick, and there's no secret anymore. And I'm talking about it because the mental illness piece is a huge part of this. I am not a victim. I am a victor."
Wynonna's daughter, Grace Kelley, has been in and out of jail on various charges since 2015, when she was arrested for manufacturing meth. In 2026, she started a 15-month prison sentence in Virginia after pleading guilty to a felony charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license. The Hard Truth track "Drive" was inspired by the long drive she took to visit her daughter in prison.

Wynonna, who raised Kelley's daughter, was shocked to learn via TikTok that Kelley gave birth to another baby in prison that August.
Her son, Elijah, stands on the opposite side of the law from his oft-incarcerated sister - he's a police officer in Tennessee. "I've got one on parole and one on patrol," Wynonna said. "Put that on a bumper sticker."
She was shattered by the 2026 death of Dolly Parton, who showed her love after Naomi died. Wy saw a lot of similarities between her mother and Dolly, who both had bubbly personalities that made everyone feel at ease. "They have a sparkle that's just so uniting that when you're in the room with her, you're touched by it. You're affected by it," she said.

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