The Nashville legend and Grand Ole Opry member is recovering from multiple surgeries
Country music legend and Grand Ole Opry member Jeannie Seely updates her fans and the music industry on the status of her health following multiple surgeries over the past few weeks.
“Over the past several weeks, I’ve received so many wonderful messages of love and concern about being missed on the Grand Ole Opry and on Sundays with Seely on Willie’s Roadhouse,” Seely explains. “Thank you for those, and I assure you that I miss you just as much! Hopefully I can count on that support as I struggle through this recovery process from multiple back surgeries in March, as well as two emergency abdominal surgeries in April, followed by eleven days in the intensive care unit and a bout with pneumonia. Rehab is pretty tough but each day is looking brighter and last night, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. And it was neon, so I knew it was mine! The unsinkable Seely is working her way back.”
Once fully recovered, Seely plans to continue performing regularly on the Opry stage, recording her weekly show — Sundays with Seely — on SiriusXM’s Willie’s Roadhouse and releasing new music.
Early in Jeannie Seely’s career, music industry professionals praised her soul-inspired vocals, which resulted in her being named “Miss Country Soul” – a title still used today. In 2019, Seely was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts from Lincoln Memorial University for her many groundbreaking accomplishments in the music industry. Born and raised in northwestern Pennsylvania, Seely received the Most Promising Female Artist award in 1964 from the Country and Western Academy (later becoming the Academy of Country Music). A year later, Seely moved to Nashville, where she signed with Monument Records, and her chart-topping hit “Don’t Touch Me” resulted in her becoming only the third female country artist to receive a Grammy Award. After receiving the Most Promising New Artist awards from Cashbox, Record World, and Billboard, Seely appeared on Billboard’s country singles chart for 13 consecutive years.
On September 16, 1967, she was inducted as a world-famous Grand Ole Opry member. She was the first Pennsylvania native to become an Opry member and later became the first female to regularly host Opry segments. Widely recognized for changing the image of female country performers, she became the first person to wear a mini-skirt on the Opry stage. Seely formed one of the most successful duets and road shows in country music history with fellow Opry member Jack Greene. In 2022, the Grand Ole Opry honored her for the most performances in the Opry’s history, a record that will almost certainly remain intact forever.
A BMI-awarded songwriter, Seely’s songs have been recorded by Country Music Hall of Fame members, including Dottie West, Merle Haggard, Connie Smith, Ray Price, Willie Nelson, Faron Young, Ernest Tubb, Little Jimmy Dickens, and Hank Williams Jr. – as well as by artists ranging from Irma Thomas (the “Soul Queen of New Orleans”) to Rhonda Vincent (the “Queen of Bluegrass”), from Chris LeDoux to Moe Bandy, and from Boys II Men to Seal. The star of significant stage productions including Always, Patsy Cline, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, and several others, Seely has served as a radio disc jockey on her own Armed Forces Network, traveled on military tours throughout Europe and Asia, and published her book titled Pieces Of A Puzzled Mind.
Recordings by Seely have spanned seven decades, from her Top 10 Billboard album The Seely Style to her Curb Records album An American Classic, which includes her third duet with friend Willie Nelson. She appeared in Willie’s movie Honeysuckle Rose and sang on the platinum soundtrack album. In 2018, she began hosting her weekly show, Sundays with Seely, on the Willie’s Roadhouse channel of SiriusXM.
In 2018, she was inducted into the Music City Walk of Fame, representing all music genres. At the inaugural Influencing Women Awards Gala in 2019, the first Standing Ovation Award was presented to Seely, and her name was added to the annual award. In 2022 , she was recognized on the nationally televised Country Music Association (CMA) Awards Show, in 2023 she received the CMA’s prestigious Joe Talbot Award, and in 2024 she was honored by Source with the esteemed Jo Walker-Meador Lifetime Achievement Award. Following Seely’s 5,381st performance on the Grand Ole Opry in September 2024, the Jeannie Seely Interchange was dedicated at the Briley Parkway exit to the Grand Ole Opry House.
