Alan Jackson is one of the biggest names in country music and his wife, Denise Jackson, has been along for the ride since day one.
The couple met in their hometown of Newnan, Georgia, as teenagers. After tying the knot in 1979, the high school sweethearts made their way to Nashville in the ‘80s.
After nearly five decades of marriage — which included health issues for both Alan and Denise and a brief separation in the 90s — the pair continue to lean on each other.
“We get up in the morning and drink coffee together and talk, and I can’t go to bed at night if she’s downstairs watching television. We go to bed together, unless I’m out of town,” Alan told The Boot in December 2022. “It’s just little things I think that have helped us more than anything. If you can last until you’re 40 years old, hopefully, you’ll be mature enough to figure out the rest of the years.”
Many stars have golden relationships that have lasted at least 50 years. For instance, Dolly Parton was married to Carl Dean from 1966 to 2025, when he died at the age of 82. “We’re the perfect partners,” Parton exclusively told Us Weekly in January 2022 of her spouse. “We both have a great sense of […]
While accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 ACM Awards, Alan praised Denise as his “best friend,” saying, “I wouldn’t be here without her. So there’s not much else I can say that’s better than that.”
Scroll down to see Alan and Denise’s love story from the beginning:
1976
The duo met while attending Newnan High School in Georgia. They began dating when Alan was 18 and Denise was 16, according to Today.
December 1979
After high school, the couple wed in December 1979, where Alan sang to his bride.
1985
While working as a flight attendant, Denise met singer Glen Campbell in the early 1980s and talked to him about Alan, who was the lead singer of the band Dixie Steel in Georgia.
“He said, ‘Just put together a demo tape and go see Marty [Gamblin] at my office and see if he can help him,’” Denise recalled of the conversation in 2018’s Alan Jackson: Small Town Southern Man TV movie. “That was our first connection.”
After recording his demo, Alan received a songwriting contract with Campbell’s company and the couple relocated to Nashville in 1985.
1989
It wasn’t until four years later that Alan signed his first record deal with Arista Records.
June 1990
Alan released his debut album, Here in the Real World, in February 1990. That 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 their marriage another shot in 1998.
“I think Alan got to 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 fixable,’” Denise recalled to the Christian Broadcasting Network. “So that was really the turning point where he said, ‘Enough is enough. I’m leaving.’”
During their time apart, Denise learned about Alan’s infidelity, but they chose to work through it together. “There’s no one-size-fits-all kind of answer for forgiveness,” she said during the TV appearance. “For each of us, the struggle will be individual. 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 and Denise’s love story, which he released in October 2023. “Remember when / Thirty seemed so old / Now looking back, it’s just a stepping stone,” Alan sings in one verse. “To where we are, where we’ve been / Said we’d do it all again / Remember when.”
The track has since become one of Alan’s most iconic and beloved songs. It hit No. 1 on Billboard’s US Hot Country Songs chart and went four-times platinum. Denise and Alan were featured slow dancing in the corresponding music video.
Alan made a rare appearance amid his health battle to perform “Remember When” at the ACM Awards. After the performance, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award that has been named in his honor.
“I do want to especially thank one person who’s been my best friend since I was 17 years old. That’s my wife, Denise, out there,” he said during his speech. “She’s loved me through the good and the bad and the happy and the sad and influenced me, given me three beautiful daughters, helped me keep my feet on the ground all these years.”
See More
