Often referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Country, Tammy Wynette and George Jones are considered the first power couple, and their union was like royalty in their music genre. From meeting for the first time in Nashville at a recording studio to releasing many hit duets together, this infamous pair has seen numerous ups and downs in their six years together.
With the immortalization of the country duo’s relationship in a six-episode series that aired on Dec-4 on Paramount+, George and Tammy, here’s what went down in their relationship and why they had to call it quits.
The Country duo met at Nashville recording studio in 1968 when Wynette was still wed to Don Chapel, her second husband and a part-time songwriter who was also a hotel clerk, before which she was married to construction worker Euple Byrd.
Relationship Timeline
As per the New York Times, Jones made friends with Wynette and Chapel very first, and the future pair got to know one another better while they were touring. Jones wrote that moment he fell in love with Wynette in his autobiography “I Lived to Tell It All”, which was published in 1996.
The first time Jones confessed his love to Wynette is quite a tale. After a fight with Chapel due to a matter surrounding his daughters, when Jones and Wynette left Chapel’s house together, Wynette and Chapel got their marriage annulled, and she married Jones in February 1969 and moved to Lakeland, Florida.
After almost a year together, Tamela Georgette Jones, the country couple’s first and only child, was born on Oct 5, 1970, while they also shared three children, each from their prior marriages.
Georgette has also taken up her parents’ art and is a singer/songwriter now. She published a memoir based on her parents titled The Three of Us: Growing up With Tammy and George, where she briefly describes her parents” marriage, the good and the bad(s) as well.
Trouble In paradise; What Actually Went Down?
Jones had a relationship with alcohol that was just as popular as him. It was all love between the couple, but Jones’s substance abuse and alcoholism are considered to be the main reason for the split of the iconic duet.
As evidenced by his songs like “If Drinking Doesn’t’ Kill Me (Her Memory Will),” Jones definitely had an addiction to alcohol along with cocaine because Wynette once shared in an interview, “I was naggin” when he was nippin”.”
According to the New York Times, Wynette claimed that Jones had once harassed her at their Florida estate with a gun in his intoxicated state in her 1979 autobiography, Stand by Your Man. Apparently, she fled when he fired at her, and Wynette later revealed that Jones had been hospitalized for ten days while wearing a straitjacket. (However, these incidents are denied in the book Jones wrote).
In 1971, Jones went to Wynette’s’ record label, Epic Records, and the pair started making music together, according to USA Today. The duo co-wrote songs, including “The Ceremony” and “We’re’ Gonna Hold On,” during this time.
First Divorce Filing
In 1973, “I Don’t Want to Play House” filed the divorce. But after they made amends, she said she took action as it was a ploy suggested by Jones” doctor as a way to limit his drinking.
Many of their fans and supporters were not very fond of their divorce, as this would have been their third count. As a result, they continued to make their solo and duet albums while also releasing “We’re’ Gonna Hold On.” And they made an effort to make their marriage work.
The Final Divorce Filing “It’s’ over. This is it”
In January 1975, Tammy filed for divorce again and quoted to People Magazine that this time it was final and it’s’ over after Jones missed a recording session and spent roughly $30k on a stretch limo, and fled to Florida after an argument with his enraged wife.
Even though some of their friends were hoping for the couple to get back together but by that time, Tammy, however, was romantically associated with Burt Reynolds.
Divorce Aftermath
Despite being divorced, the pair continued to collaborate on music, resulting in hits such as “Near You” and “Golden Ring.”
One year later, around 1977, Jones admitted to People Magazine about his addiction, how he drank a little more than he should, even though he hated the fact that his father had the same issue. He also went on to add to his statement how their ”tempers rose before they could find the opportunity to talk about what was bothering them.
The duo continued to make music in 1980, releasing the album Together Again and embarking on a 35-concert tour. As per Tammy, her producer Billy Sherill came up with the idea of a reunion, but the duo didn’t’ talk much once the tour was over.
Tammy got married twice after, once to Michael Tomlin, who was a Nashville-based realtor, which lasted just for a year, and later to songwriter and producer George Richey in June 1978.
However, George got married once after the duo’s separation. Jones got hitched to Nancy Sepulvado in 1983. In 1995, the country duo embarked on a tour in support of their final album together, One. During the same year, Jones discussed his reconciliation with Wynette with People Magazine, claiming that ” a lot of old stage memories from our past collaborative work came flooding back. In contrast, it doesn’t do anything to rekindle memories of past events. All of the rest has been totally blocked from our minds.”
Whereas Wynette said she didn’t miss the duets much as anything she did in the entire business, there’s something about his (George) ‘ ‘s and me that makes our voices blend, unlike a lot of other singers that I’ve’ sung with. But on April 6, 1998, sad news rolled all over us when Tammy Wynette was declared dead at 55 years of age due to blood clots in her lungs.
George Jones went from “No Show Jones” to clean and sober Jones in March of 1999 due to a devastating car crash that nearly took his life, but sadly, Tammy wasn’t’ around to see this. George thanked her now wife, Nancy, for helping him overcome the addiction; she became his widow after George Jones passed away at the age of 81 on April 26, 2013, due to fever and irregular blood pressure.
The country duo definitely ended up in better relationships afterward, but somewhere we, as their fans, definitely rooted for them to stick together. Despite the fact that we don’t have them within us, there are still songs that they have left for us to commemorate.
