Naomi Judd

Naomi Judd won renown as half of the mother-daughter singing team, The Judds, the most popular female singing duo in country music history. But her rise in the world was not an easy one. Before graduating from high school, the unmarried Naomi was already pregnant with the first of her two daughters. When her first marriage ended in divorce, she found herself struggling to support two daughters on her own. A decade of struggle followed, but Naomi and her daughter Wynonna developed their singing talents, and a live audition won them a recording contract before the duo had ever performed in front of a paying audience. After eight years of phenomenal success on the country music scene, Naomi Judd retired from performing to battle a life-threatening illness. Doctors gave her only three years to live, but her faith and determination pulled her through to complete recovery. Today, Naomi Judd is in demand as a lecturer and hosts her own Sunday morning television show on the Hallmark Channel. Her incandescent spirit is an inspiration to all who hear her. In this podcast, recorded at the 2008 International Achievement Summit in 2008, Naomi gives a moving account of her early struggles as a teenage single mother, fighting her way from welfare to ultimate success in the music industry.