On this day (July 19) in 1992, Wynonna Judd landed her second No. 1 as a solo artist with “I Saw the Light.” The song stayed at the top of the charts for multiple weeks and solidified the success of Judd’s solo career.
Wynonna started her career in the groundbreaking mother-daughter duo The Judds alongside Naomi Judd. Between signing their initial recording contract in 1983 and disbanding due to Namoi’s health issues in 1991, the duo launched 15 singles to the top of the chart. They also collected five Grammy Awards. In 1992, Wynonna kicked off her solo career with her self-titled debut album.
Videos by American Songwriter
Wynonna Judd Sees Early Solo Success
Wynonna topped the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and landed at No. 4 on the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart. The album produced four singles with the first three—“She Is His Only Need,” “I Saw the Light,” and “No One Else on Earth”—going to No. 1. The album’s final single—“My Strongest Weakness”—peaked at No. 4.
Written by Lisa Angelle and Andrew Gold, “I Saw the Light” was the second of Wynonna Judd’s three No. 1 solo singles. It topped the chart for three weeks.
“I Saw the Light” is a song about a woman who goes to her boyfriend’s house to surprise him but catches him cheating. According to Songfacts, the lyrics were autobiographical for Angelle.
“There was a boyfriend that I had that I pulled up to his house to actually surprise him, and I saw the curtain move and I saw him lay a big, fat kiss on a beautiful, long dark-haired girl,” she recalled. “I got really mad at him. So, I went and picked a rose out of his rose garden and put it on his front porch. Then, I went home and wrote ‘I Saw the Light’ for Wynonna Judd,” she added.
Judd would not see a run of hits like the one she got from her debut album again. However, eight of her nine solo albums would go on to be top 10 hits on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart three of them topped the survey. Her 2016 album Wynonna & the Big Noise missed the mark by four slots.
Featured Image by Sterling Munksgard
More Features
-
lake Shelton, presenter Video Director of the Year (Photo by Frank Mullen/WireImage) -
Photo by Robert Kern/Getty Images -
NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 1958: Pianist Bob Gaudio, drummer Tom Austin, tenor sax Larry Qualiano, singer Dianne Costello and guitarist Billy Dalton of the rock and roll band "The Royal Teens" pose for a portrait in September or October of 1958 at the Brooklyn Paramount in New York, New York. (Photo by PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
Left to right: Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page, of British heavy rock group Led Zeppelin, performing at Earl's Court, London, May 1975. The band were initially booked to play three nights at the venue, from 23rd to 25th May, but due to public demand, two more concerts were later added, for 17th and 18th May. Total ticket sales were 85,000. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images) -
American country comedienne Minnie Pearl (1912 – 1996) performing, circa 1970. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images) -
NEW YORK – JUNE 11: Rock and roll band Steppenwolf (L-R Jerry Edmonton, John Kay and Michael Monarch) perform at Steve Paul's The Scene nightclub on June 11, 1968 in New York, New York. (Photo by Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
British musicians Mick Jagger (left) and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones performs on stage during the band's 'Steel Wheels' tour, late 1989. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
