Kitty Wells

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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," 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-1960s, inspiring a long list of future female country singers to come to fame in the 1960s.

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, after 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," a title since inherited by Reba McEntire.

Early Life & Rise to Success

Wells was born Ellen Muriel Deason in Nashville, Tennessee in 1919, one of the few country singers born in and long before Nashville earned its reputation as "Music City U.S.A." Music was an important part of her family's life: at age 14, Wells took up playing guitar, and in her teens, she debuted on Nashville-area radio station WSIX. There, she met singer Johnnie Wright, who would later gain fame as half of the country duo Johnnie and Jack. The two married in 1937, when Kitty was 18 years old.

Wells sang with Johnnie and his sister Louise Wright; the three toured as Johnnie Right & the Harmony Girls. Soon Johnnie Wright met Jack Anglin, who married Louise and became part of the band, which became known first as the Tennessee Hillbillies and then the Tennessee Mountain Boys.

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 the stage name that she would be known as for the rest of her life from the old folk tune "My Sweet Kitty Wells."

When Jack Anglin returned from the Second World War, they reformed the band. Kitty, however, was a now a mother of two and rarely performed with the new duo group entitled Johnnie and Jack; instead, she 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 their help, 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 that "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 country hits during the 1950s.

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, an answer song to Hank Thompson's #1 hit at the time, "The Wild Side of Life," had been shopped around, but it was turned down by almost everybody. 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, she did.

"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, and stayed No. 1 for spent six weeks. The only country singer to surpass this record was Connie Smith (with "Once a Day," which ran from November 1964 through January 1965); Faith Hill's "Breathe" would match Wells' six-week run in December 1999 and January 2000.

"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 performed on the Grand Ole Opry; however, the song became a million-seller overnight. Although Wells' tune was banned from the Opry in 1952, she was able to join the Opry anyway and became a member that same year.

"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 was likely due to major record sales than true crossover action on pop stations.

Wells then released a follow-up to her big hit with the Top 10, "Paying for That Back Street Affair" (1953), an 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 1950s

Kitty Wells proved to be far more than a one-hit wonder, continuing to have a string of country hits through the 1950s 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, "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.

In the mid-1950s, Wells was 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 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 saw the records women sold after her 1952 breakthrough recording, they then began issuing albums. Wells was the first female country singer to issue an album in 1956. Titled Kitty Wells' Country Hit Parade, the LP featured Wells' big hits from 1952 to 1956, and sold very well.

The album proved groundbreaking for the country music world, as other female country artists 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 smash, "Jealousy," 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, "Your Wild Life's Gonna Get You Down," and the No. 15 hit, "Touch and Go Heart," both from 1958.

Although Wells was not well known for her songwriting ability, she did write some of her material throughout her career, winning two BMI awards for her songwriting for "Who's [sic] Shoulder Will You Cry On" and "Amigo's Guitar." She has published over 60 songs she wrote.

The Changing Times In the '60s

In the 1960s, Wells slowed down, but this did not stop her from gaining hits.

In the early '60s, country music was changing into a smoother, pop-influenced sound, which was titled the Nashville Sound. Among the singers who were most popular from this genre of country music were Eddy Arnold, Patsy Cline, Skeeter Davis, and Jim Reeves. This music was produced by the two leaders of the Nashville Sound: Chet Atkins of RCA records and Owen Bradley of Decca records (Wells' record company). Bradley took over as Wells' producer in the 1960s.

While Bradley 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 1950s, including Webb Pierce, Ernest 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 early '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 into 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," 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 At Joe's," which were 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)." After 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 shows 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 10 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 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 (now called MCA Records) through 1973; however, her singles failed to gain success for the singer. In 1974, she signed with Capricorn Records, a southern rock label of the era and recorded a blues-flavored album Forever Young, on which she was backed by members of the Allman Brothers Band. The album was not a huge commercial success, though it received considerable acclaim and, through its association with the Allmans, brought Wells to the attention of a younger audience.

In 1976, Wells was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame, becoming one of the first women to do so. (Patsy Cline was the first to be elected as a solo act.) In the late 1970s, she and husband Wright formed their own record label, Ruboca (the name was a composite of their three children's names: Ruby, Bobby, and Carol) and released several albums. In 1979 at age 60 she was back on the Billboard magazine 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 crack 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 late-80s, Wells continues to make public appearances on rare occasions, and occasionally even performs some of her songs.

Discography

Singles

Year	Single	Chart Positions		Album
		US Country	US Hot 100
1952	"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels"	1	29	Kitty Wells' Country Music Hit Parade
1953	"Paying for That Back Street Affair"	6	-	Kitty Wells' Country Music Hit Parade
1953	"Hey Joe"	8	-	Golden Favorites
1954	"Cheatin's a Sin"	9	-	Kitty Wells' Country Music Hit Parade
1954	"Release Me"	8	-	Kitty Wells' Country Music Hit Parade
1954	"One by One" (with Red Foley)	1	-	Golden Favorites
1954	"Thou Shalt Not Steal"	14	-	Kitty Wells
1955	"As Long As I Live" (with Red Foley)	3	-	Kitty Wells' Country Music Hit Parade
1955	"Makin' Believe"	2	-	Kitty Wells' Country Music Hit Parade
1955	"There's Poison in Your Heart"	9	-	Kitty Wells' Country Music Hit Parade
1955	"The Lonely Side of Town"	7	-	Country Music Hall of Fame Series
1955	"You and Me" (with Red Foley)	3	-	Country Music Hall of Fame Series
1956	"How Far Is Heaven" (with Carol Sue)	11	-	Singing on Sunday
1956	"Searchin' (For Someone Like You)"	3	-	Country Music Hall of Fame Series
1956	"Repenting"	6	-	Country Music Hall of Fame Series
1957	"Oh' So Many Years" (with Webb Pierce)	8	-	Golden Years
1957	"Three Ways (To Love You)"	7	-	Country Music Hall of Fame Series
1957	"(I'll Always Be Your) Fraulein"	10	-	The Best of Kitty Wells
1957	"One Week Later" (with Webb Pierce)	12	-	The Best of Kitty Wells
1958	"I Can't Stop Loving You"	3	-	Winner of Your Heart
1958	"Jealousy"	7	78	Lonely Street
1958	"Touch and Go Heart"	15	-	Lonely Street
1959	"Mommy for a Day"	5	-	After Dark
1959	"Your Wild Life's Gonna Get You Down"	12	-	After Dark
1959	"Amigo's Guitar"	5	-	Seasons of My Heart
1960	"Left to Right"	5	-	Kitty Wells' Golden Favorites
1960	"Carmel by the Sea"	16	-
1960	"I Can't Tell My Heart That" (with Roy Drusky)	26	-	Kitty Wells' Duets
1961	"The Other Cheek"	19	-	Kitty Wells' Golden Favorites
1961	"Heartbreak USA"	1	-	Heartbreak USA
1961	"Day Into Night"	10	-	Heartbreak USA
1962	"Unloved Unwanted"	5	-	Especially for You
1962	"Will Your Lawyer Talk to God"	8	-	Especially for You
1962	"We Missed You"	7	-	Especially for You
1963	"Cold and Lonely (Is the Forecast for Tonight)"	13	-	Especially for You
1963	"A Heartache for a Keepsake"	29	-	Kitty Wells
1963	"I Gave My Wedding Dress Away"	22	-	The Kitty Wells Story
1964	"This White Circle on My Finger"	7	-	Country Music Time
1964	"Password"	4	-	Country Music Time
1964	"Finally" (with Webb Pierce)	9	-	Kitty Wells' Duets
1964	"I'll Repossess My Heart"	8	-	Burning Memories
1965	"Six Lonely Hours"	27	-	Burning Memories
1965	"You Don't Hear"	4	-	Burning Memories
1965	"Meanwhile, Down At Joe's"	9	-	Country All the Way
1965	"A Woman Half My Age"	15	-	A Woman Half My Age
1966	"It's All Over (But the Crying)"	14	-	The Kitty Wells Show
1966	"A Woman Never Forgets"	52	-	Country All the Way
1966	"Only Me and My Hairdresser Know"	49	-	Love Makes the World Go Around
1967	"Love Makes the World Go Around"	34	-	Love Makes the World Go Around
1967	"Happiness Means You" (with Red Foley)	43	-	Together Again (with Red Foley)
1967	"Hello No. 1" (with Red Foley)	60	-	Together Again (with Red Foley)
1967	"Queen of the Honky Tonk Street"	28	-	Queen of the Honky Tonk Street
1967	"Livin' As Strangers" (with Red Foley)	63	-	Together Again (with Red Foley)
1968	"My Big Truck Drivin' Man"	35	-	Showcase
1968	"We'll Stick Together" (with Johnnie Wright)	54	-	Well Stick Together (with Johnnie Wright)
1968	"Gypsy King"	52	-	Cream of Country Hits
1968	"Happiness Hill"	47	-	Guilty Street
1969	"Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" (with Red Foley)	74	-	Together Again (with Red Foley)
1969	"Guilty Street"	61	-	Guilty Street
1970	"Your Love is the Way"	71	-	Your Love is the Way
1971	"They're Stepping All Over My Heart"	72	-	They're Stepping All Over My Heart
1971	"Pledging My Love"	49	-	Pledging My Love
1972	"Sincerely"	72	-	Sincerely
1975	"Anybody Out There Wanna Be a Daddy"	94	-	-
1979	"Thank You for the Roses"	75	-	''Greatest Hits Vol. 1
1979	"The Wild Side of Life"	60	-	Real Thing
1987	"Honky Tonk Angels Medley" (w/ k.d. Lang, Brenda Lee, and Loretta Lynn)A	-	-	Shadowland (k.d. Lang album)

• ^A Failed to chart.

References

• Bufwack, Mary A. (1998). "Kitty Wells". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 576-7.
• CMT.com profile
• Official website

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