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Kitty Wells (born '''Ellen Muriel Deason''' on August 30 , 1919 ) is an American Country Music Singer . Her 1952 hit recording " It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels " has not just been named a classic, but also made her the first female Country singer to top the U.S. Country charts, and turned her into the very first female Country star. Her Top 10 hits continued up until the mid-60s, inspiring a long list of future female Country singers to come to fame in the 1960s. Kitty Wells was the woman who singlehandedly established the wealth of the female Country music singer, thanks to 1952's "Honky Tonk Angels". Although the song was such a big hit, Wells was not just a one-hit-wonder. She continued to chart again and again with solid Top 10 hits throughout the 50s and 60s. Other big hits include, "One by One", "Makin' Believe", "Searchin' (For Someone Like You)", "Amigo's Guitar", "Mommy for a Day", "Heartbreak USA", "Will Your Lawyer Talk to God", and "You Don't Hear". Kitty Wells' success in the 1950s and 1960s was so enormous that she still ranks as the sixth most successful female vocalist in the history of the Billboard country charts according to historian Joel Whitburn 's book "The Top 40 Country Hits", behind Dolly Parton , Loretta Lynn , Reba McEntire , Tammy Wynette , and Tanya Tucker . Wells was the third country music artist, behind Roy Acuff and Hank Williams , to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991 as well as being the seventh woman and first Caucasian woman to receive the honor. In 1976 , she was inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame . Wells' accomplishments earned her the moniker " The Queen of Country Music", and though she hasn't had a hit in decades, and is more or less retired, this title is still largely undisputed in the country music industry. EARLY LIFE & RISE TO SUCCESS Wells was born Ellen Muriel Deason in Nashville, Tennessee in 1919, long before Nashville earned its reputation as "Music City U.S.A.". She was also one of the few Country singers born in Nashville. Music was a very important part of her family's life, and at age 14, she took up playing the Guitar . In her teens, Wells debuted on WSIX , a Nashville-area Radio Station . There at the radio staion, Wells met singer Johnnie Wright , who would later gain fame as half of the duo of the Country group Johnnie And Jack . The two eventually married while Kitty was eighteen years old in 1937. She sang with Johnnie and his sister Louise Wright and the three of them toured on the road as ''Johnnie Right & the Harmony Girls''. Soon Johnnie Wright met Jack Anglin and the two later formed the duo they became best known for called Johnnie And Jack . With the addition of Jack Anglin, the band became known as the ''Tennessee Hillbillies'' and then became the ''Tennessee Mountain Boys''. Soon Jack Anglin and Johnnie's sister Louise married. In 1942 Anglin was drafted to fight in World War II and the band was temporarily split up. While Anglin was away, they toured and Kitty took on a stage name that she would be known as for the rest of her life. Wells took the stage name from the old Folk tune "My Sweet Kitty Wells". When Jack Anglin returned from the Second World War they reformed the band. Kitty was a now a mother of two and rarely performed with the new duo group entitled Johnnie And Jack . Now Kitty was more concerned in raising her two children, as well as being a Housewife . The duo Johnnie And Jack moved their way up onto performing regular appearances on the newly-made ''Louisiana Hayride''. With the help of the duo, Wells started performing on the program as well and the duo Johnnie and Jack began recording music for a couple of small record labels. Although Wells did perform on ''Louisiana Hayride'' she didn't start recording on records until Johnnie And Jack were signed to RCA Records in 1949 . At the duo's first session, Wells accompanied them on their recording sessions and also cut four sides of her own. Her records released at the time didn't get much notice, being that record producers said the "women don't sell records". The label kept Johnnie and Jack but dropped Kitty from RCA . Johnnie and Jack would later have their own string of successful hits during the 1950s in Country Music . THE SUCCESS OF "IT WASN'T GOD WHO MADE HONKY TONK ANGELS" Wells' husband sent a demo tape to Paul Cohen of Decca Records , the same producer who would later work with Patsy Cline in her early recording sessions. At this point Wells was just about ready to retire from the music business and focus more on raising her family. However, Wells was given the song " It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels ", written by J.D. Miller. The song was shopped around but it was turned down by almost everybody. It was an answer song to Hank Thompson 's #1 hit at the time, "The Wild Side of Life". Wells was not happy about recording the song but Cohen liked it and insisted that Wells record a version for the Decca label. In May of 1952 , Wells cut her version of the song. " It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels " went immediately to No. 1 on the Country Music charts in 1952 (making Wells the first woman to top the country charts). The song spent six weeks at No. 1 on the chart. Only one other Country singer has come close to spending this many weeks at the No. 1 spot on the Country charts, which was Carrie Underwood , with the success of the song, " Jesus Take The Wheel ". "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" was one of the most controversial songs ever recorded at the time. It was almost unheard of a woman to record a song from a Feminist stance. The song was soon banned from being on the Grand Ole Opry . However the song was turned into a million-seller overnight. Although Wells' tune was banned from the Opry in 1952, she was able to join the Opry anyway and that same year, she became a member. "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" was such a hit it placed in the Top 30 on Billboard 's pop chart in 1953 although this high position is likely due to major record sales than true Crossover action on pop stations. In 1958, Wells scored another pop-charting record with "Jealousy". However, the record did not chart the Top 30, only reaching No. 78. Wells then released a follow-up to her big hit with the Top 10, "Paying for That Back Street Affair" (1953, Answer Song to Webb Pierce 's "Back Street Affair"), which hit No. 6 in 1953. Another song recorded as a follow-up to this hit was the Red Foley and Kitty Wells duet hit "One By One", which stayed on the charts for nearly a year. "One By One" set the stage a for series of hit duets between Foley and Wells in the next decade. THE HEIGHT OF HER CAREER IN THE 50S & 60S String of Honky Tonk Ballad Hits in the 50s Kitty Wells proved to be far more than a one-hit wonder, continuing to have a string of Country hits through the 50s and 60s. In 1953, she recorded a series of hits, which hit the Top 10, including, "Paying for That Back Street Affair", and the duet hit with Red Foley titled, "One by One". Today, the song remains as one of Country music's biggest and greatest duet hits of all time. Wells' and Foley's duet pairing in Country music marked the true beginning of the future successful duet acts to come, like the pairing of Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty , Tammy Wynette and George Jones, and Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. In 1955, their song, "As Long As I Love" hit the Top 10 at No. 7, and occasionally they continued to record together. ''. She was the first female Country singer to release an LP of her own.]] In the mid-50s, Wells' was virtually at the very height of her career, with every single released around this time in the Country Top 10. A number of these songs have become Honky Tonk standards over the years, starting in 1955 with Top 10s and Top 5 hits, like "Makin' Believe" (1955; which hit No. 2, just missing the top spot), "There's Poison in Your Heart" (1955), "The Lonely Side of Town" (1956), "Searchin' (For Someone Like You)" (1956), and "Repenting" (1956). "The Lonely Side of Town", "Makin' Believe", and "Searching (For Someone Like You)" were her biggest hits from the mid '50s. Many of her songs, starting with "Honky Tonk Angels" were considered risky to record and very controversial at the time. Many people would've thought this would give Wells the wrong reputaion, however, the combination of her steady, old-fashioned demeanor, and her role as a good mother and wife in her family, overcame all of these objections. Her songs continued to maintain the success Wells always dreamed of having and also maintained that controversial and risky material. Wells continued to put much of this in much of her songs throughout her career, inspiring other female Country singers to record risky material as well. Loretta Lynn was one of her followers in this sense, when she recorded "Don't Come a Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)" in 1967, and Dolly Parton 's 1968 recording " Just Because I'm A Woman ", like "Honky Tonk Angels", questioned the male-female double-standard. Before Wells' success, record companies were reluctant to issue albums by female Country artists. When record companies then saw the records women sold after her 1952 breakthrough recording, they began issuing albums. Wells was the first to issue her first album in 1956. Titled '' Kitty Wells' Country Hit Parade '', the LP featured Wells' big hits from 1952 to 1956, and sold very well, and proved groundbreaking for the Country music world. Soon, Country women began to release their own LPs, starting with Patsy Cline 's self-titled LP in 1957, followed by Jean Shepard 's ''This Is Jean Shepard'' in 1959, and then again by Rose Maddox in 1960 with the LP ''The One Rose''. By 1960, virtually every female Country singer was releasing her own LPs. In the late-50s, Wells continued her place on the top on the Country charts with hits like "Three Ways (To Love You)" and a duet with Webb Pierce titled, "Finally". In mid-1958, her No. 7 Country hit, "Jealousy" wasn't just a No. 7 Country smash, but also cracked the Pop charts at No. 78. In late 1958 and early 1959, Wells attained two Top 5 hits, starting with "I Can't Stop Loving You", followed by "Mommy for a Day". Other hits from this time, include, the No. 12 hit from 1958, "Your Wild Life's Gonna Get You Down", and the No. 15 hit also from 1958, titled, "Touch and Go Heart". Kitty Wells was never known much for her songwriting ability; she did write some of her material throughout her career. She won two BMI awards for her songwriting, "Who's (sic) Shoulder Will You Cry On" and "Amigo's Guitar". She has published over 60 songs written by her. The Changing Times In the 60s It was clear that in the 1960s, Wells slowed down a lot more, but this did not stop Wells from gaining hits. In the early-60s, Country music was changing into a more smoother, Pop-influenced sound, which was titled the '' of RCA records and Owen Bradley of Decca records (Wells' record company). Bradley took over as Wells' producer in the 1960s. While he did produce some of the biggest-selling Country crossover singers of the time period, including Patsy Cline, he did have to record some of what Nashville then called, "The Old-Timers", or the Honky-Tonkers from the 50s, including Webb Pierce, Justin Tubb, and Wells. With these singers, including Wells, he steered them all skillfully into the new contemporary sound, without pushing them out of their limits. In the ealry 60s, Wells' sound changed slightly, incorporating some of the new Nashville Sound into her material. The well-known Nashville Sound vocal group, The Jordanaires can be heard backing Wells on her big Country hit from 1961, "Heartbreak USA". ).]] Because Wells changed her sound, her hits started to climb higher on the charts again, starting with "Amigo's Guitar", which incorporated a Spanish-influenced sound on to the recording. Thanks to this, the song hit No. 5 on the Country charts in 1960. In 1961, Wells achieved her second No. 1 hit with "Heartbreak USA", which probably provides the best example of her new contemporary start. After this No. 1, a string of hits were released in 1962, including the Top 10s, "Will Your Lawyer Talk to God" and "We Missed You". Other hits around this time hit the Country Top 20 also, like 1961's "The Other Cheek". In 1964, Wells released a string of Top 10 hits, starting with the No. 8 hit, "This White Circle on My Finger", then by other Top 10s, like "Password", "I'll Repossessess My Heart", and "Finally", which was a duet with Webb Pierce. Wells had two more Top 10 hits in 1965, starting with the Top 5 hit, "You Don't Hear", then followed by "Meanwhile, Down Ata Joe's", which went on to become her last Top 10 hits. She had a couple other Top 20s, following the decline in the string of Top 10s, like 1965's "A Woman Half My Age", then again in 1966 with "It's All Over (But the Crying)". Following 1966, her hits then decreased in size, some of which did not even chart the Top 40, like 1966's "A Woman Never Forgets", which only hit No. 52. In the late-60s, Wells reunited with her old duet partner, Red Foley for the making of the album ''Together Again'', as well as a string of unsuccessful singles which didn't even crack the Top 40, like 1967's "Hello Number One". Wells became the first female country star to have her own Syndicated television show with 1968's "The Kitty Wells Show", but the program could not compete against others starring more contemporary male artists like Porter Wagoner and Bill Anderson and only ran for one year. Wells' success opened the door for other female vocalists in the 1950s, notably Jean Shepard , Goldie Hill , and Rose Maddox , but no other woman during this period came near her success; it was not until the early 1960s when Patsy Cline and Skeeter Davis emerged on the scene that other female vocalists began to hit the top ten charts with frequency. By the time Wells scored her final major hit, 1968's "My Big Truck Driving Man", there were more than a dozen women who could be considered top-level country stars, Shepard, Davis, Loretta Lynn , Connie Smith , Dottie West , Norma Jean , Jan Howard , Jeannie Seely , and the fast-climbing newcomers Tammy Wynette , Dolly Parton , Lynn Anderson , and Jeannie C. Riley , all of whom owed a debt to Wells for her groundbreaking career. LATER CAREER & LIFE TODAY Wells continued recording at least two albums a year for Decca through 1973 (by this time, it called MCA records), however, her singles failed to gain success for the singer. In 1974 she signed with charts with a modest hit, "I Thank You for the Roses". In the 1980s, although she was no longer making hits, she continued to remain a popular concert attraction throughout the country. In 1987, she joined fellow Opry legends Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn on K.d. Lang 's " Honky Tonk Angels Medley ", which failed to chart the Country charts, but the song did get high critical acclaim. Wells' 1955 recording "Making Believe" was included in the soundtrack of the film '' Mississippi Burning ''. The Wells/Wright touring show remained a very successful road show well into the 1990s. In 1991, she became the third Country singer to win the Grammy Lifetime Achievement award. In 2001, the country music legend officially retired with a farewell performance in her hometown of Nashville. However, she continues to make public appearances. In the new millennium, she was interviewed by the CMT network for a documentary about the role of female singers in the history of Country music. Wells ranked #15 on ''CMT's 40 Greatest Women in Country Music'' in 2002. Now in her mid-80s, Wells continues to make public appearances on rare occasion, and on some occasions even performs some of her songs. DISCOGRAPHY Singles REFERENCES
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