Relationships 45 and more Denise Alan Jackson and wife

Alan Jackson is one of the greatest names in country singing and his wife, Denise Jacksonbeen on for the ride since day one.

The couple met in their Newnan hometown, Georgiaas teenagers. After tying the knot in 1979, high school lovers made their way to Nashville in the ’80s.

After nearly five decades of marriage – which included health issues for Alan and Denise and a brief separation in the 90s – the pair continues to press each other.

“We get up in the morning and drink coffee together and talk, and I can’t go to bed in the evening if it’s downstairs watching TV. We go to bed together, unless I’m out of town,” said Alan The chest In December 2022. “I only think little things helped us. If you can last until you are 40, hopefully, you will be mature enough to discover the rest of the years.”

In receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award in the 2025 ACM AwardsAlan Denise praised as his “best friend,” saying, “We will not be here without her. So there’s not much else I can say that is better than that.”

Scroll down to see Alan and Denise’s love story from the beginning:

1976

The duo met when going to News High School in Georgia. They started dating when Alan was 18 and Denise was 16, back today.

December 1979

After a high school, he married the couple in December 1979, where Alan sang his bride.

1985

While working as a flight assistant, Denise met a singer Glen Campbell In the early 1980s and talked to him about Alan, who was the lead vocalist of band Dixie Steel in Georgia.

“He said, ‘just draw a demo tape and go to see Marty (Gamblin) in my office to see if he can help him,’” Denise remembered the conversation in 2018’s Alan Jackson: Southern Town Small Man TV film. “That was our first connection.”

After recording his demonstration, Alan received a songwriting contract with Campbell and the couple moved to Nashville in 1985.

1989

Not until four years later Alan signed his first record deal with Arista Records.

June 1990

Alan released his debut album, Here in the real worldIn February 1990. The same year, he and Denise welcomed their first daughter, Mattie, born in June.

August 1993

The couple expanded their family with the birth of their daughter, Alexandra “Ali.”

August 1997

Alan and Denise’s youngest daughter, Dani, was born in August 1997.

April 1998

After Christmas in 1997, the pair separated for four months before giving her wedding another shot in 1998.

“I think Alan reached a point after 18 years where he thought, ‘We both deserve so much more than this, and we haven’t been able to fix it yet, and I don’t think it’s fixed,’” Denise remembered the Christian broadcasting network. “So that was the turning point where he said, ‘enough is sufficient. I leave.’”

During their separate time, Denise learned about Alan’s infidelity, but chose to work through it together. “There is no sort of solution to all kinds of forgiveness,” he said during the television appearance. “For all of us, the battle will be individually. But what I found in the long run was that forgiveness was the key to real freedom in my life.”

October 2003

Alan wrote “Remember when” about his love story he and Denise, who released in October 2023. “Remember when / thirty appeared so old / now looking back, it’s just a stepping stone,” Alan sings in one verse. “Where we are, where we’ve been / said we would do it all again / remember when.”

Since then the track has become one of Alan’s most iconic and beloved songs. No. 1 hit on the hot country song chart of the United States Billboard and Platinum went four times. Denise and Alan were getting slow attention dancing in the corresponding music video.

July 2007

Denise recalled some of the harder times in her marriage in her 2007 book, It’s all about: Find the love of my lifeWhere the “He” refers to God and lets the Lord take the wheel.

“Alan has such a strong personality, and the more his career grew, the more uncertain I felt, and the more I absorbed myself into his world,” said Denise Today In July 2007, reflecting on their relationships and lows. “My dreams became his dreams, and it was all about him and his goals, and I had lost myself.”

Denise wrote in her book that she had to stop trying to win Alan back (during their short separation) and instead leave him up to God. He also learned to forgive. Alan, for his part, wrote the forward for the book.

April 2010

Denise was diagnosed with colored cancer in 2010 and had radiation and chemotherapy. It was announced to be cancer free after two months of treatment.

Alan said later Cope Magazine that the scare of his wife’s health reminds him “how important it is to get someone there to walk with you through something like this. It was the first time I felt that I lived out the phrase in our marriage resolutions’ for better or for worse.”

That same spring, Denise was on hand to see Alan accept his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

August 2014

Denise was alongside Alan – as were their three daughters – to see the opening of the Alan Jackson exhibition at the Rural Music Museum and Museum Gallery in August 2014.

October 2017

He wore all the Jacksons to celebrate Alan being founded in the Country Music immortal gallery.

September 2021

The Country Singer in Fall 2021 revealed that he had been suffering from a degenerative nerve condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth’s disease For the past 10 years, which affected his ability to walk and perform on stage.

“I’ve been reluctant to talk about this in public and to my supporters, but it’s been a time, and it’s starting to affect my performance on stage a little where I don’t feel comfortable,” said Alan on the Today Show at the time. “I wanted the fans and the public to know if they have come to see me over the past few years or whether they come to see me in the future if I play anymore, what happens.”

He noted that the condition had been passed down from his father and was not fatal but would “disable it” as he went ahead. “I’ve had a lovely, beautiful life, and I’ve been so wonderful. I can’t even imagine what other people are going through,” added Alan. “This is not a condition that we will typically complain about, but it will affect me wisely in terms of stage performance, and I do not know how much I will continue to go on a journey.”

November 2022

Alan dedicated his Willie Nelson’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 CMA Awards to his partner Longtime.

“I’m probably not always the easiest person to love, but she’s been there and helped me through hard times,” he said, directing his attention to Denise. “And we’ve shared great times. The good, the bad, the happy, and the sad, we survive a lot. I want to thank her, because she’s caught me up all these years and she’s my best friend. And she gave me a wonderful family.”

December 2022

“Denise and I are celebrating our 43 -year -old wedding birthday with our new grandson Jackson Alvie Bradshaw,” Alan shared by Instagram. Jack is the first granddaughter of the couple, and the first baby for her daughter Ali.

June 2024

“Denise and I are so happy to announce the arrival of our grandson Wesley Alan Smith,” announced Alan through Instagram, revealing that the couple’s oldest daughter had led to her first baby.

April 2025

Alan asked his wife to join him on stage During one of the last few shows On his farewell tour, for his performance of “Remember when.” As the song played, the pair danced on stage together.

May 2025

Alan made a rare appearance in the middle of his health struggle to perform “Remember when” at the ACM Awards. After the performance, he was honored with the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award.

“I want to thank one person who has been my best friend since I was 17. That’s my wife, Denise, out there,” he said during his speech. “She has loved me through the good and the bad and the happy and the sad and influenced me, given me three beautiful women, helped me keep my feet on the ground all these years.”