Kitty Wells
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| Kitty Wells | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ellen Muriel Deason |
| Also known as | The Queen of Country Music |
| Born | August 30, 1919 |
| Origin | Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Country, Honky Tonk, Nashville Sound, gospel |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar |
| Years active | 1952 – Present |
| Label(s) | RCA (1949 - 1950) Decca/MCA (1952 - 1973) Capricorn (1974 - 1975) Rubocca (1979 - 1982) |
| Associated acts | Johnny & Jack, Johnnie Wright, Hank Thompson, Red Foley, Webb Pierce, Jean Shepard, Goldie Hill, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Brenda Lee, k.d. Lang |
| Website | Kitty Wells Official Site |
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 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.
Wells's 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. She is as of May 2008 the oldest member of the Hall of Fame. Wells's accomplishments earned her the moniker "The Queen of Country Music," a title since inherited by Reba McEntire.
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[edit] Early life
Wells was born Ellen Muriel Deason in Nashville, Tennessee in 1919, one of the few country singers born 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 by for the rest of her life from the old folk tune "My Sweet Kitty Wells."
When Jack Anglin returned from the Second World War the band was reformed. Kitty, however, was a now a mother of two and rarely performed with the new duo group entitled Johnnie and Jack; she was instead 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, as record producers said "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.
[edit] First success
Wells's 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 ready to retire from the music business and focus on raising her family. However, she 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's 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, but nevertheless became a million-seller overnight; Wells became a member of the Opry in 1952. The song also 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.
[edit] 1950s
Wells's and Foley's duet pairing in country music marked the true beginning of the future successful duet acts to come, such as the pairings of Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty, Tammy Wynette and George Jones, and Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. In 1955, the Wells-Foley song "As Long As I Love" hit the Top 10 at No. 7; the duet continued to record together.
In the mid-1950s, Wells was at the very height of her career, with every single released around this time reaching the Country Top 10. A number of these songs, including "Makin' Believe" (1955; which hit No. 2), "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)" have become honky tonk standards over the years.
Many of her songs were considered risky to record and controversial at the time. The combination of her demeanor and her role as a good mother and wife to her family, however, overcame objections.
She continued to put much of herself into 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. Dolly Parton's 1968 recording "Just Because I'm a Woman," like "Honky Tonk Angels," questioned the male-female double-standard.
Wells was the first female country singer to issue an album in 1956. Titled Kitty Wells' Country Hit Parade, the LP featured Wells's big hits from 1952 to 1956, and sold very well. It also 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 Rose Maddox in 1960 with the LP The One Rose. By 1960, virtually every notable female country singer had released or was in the process of releasing an LP.
She 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.
[edit] 1960s
Wells slowed down in the 1960s, but this did not stop her from recording some hits. Country music was changing into a smoother, pop-influenced sound, called the Nashville Sound, popularized by singers such as 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. Wells's sound changed slightly due to Bradley's influence, 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."
The change allowed her to once again climb the best-seller charts, starting with "Amigo's Guitar," which incorporated a Spanish-influenced sound into the recording. 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.
Wells released a string of hits in 1962, including the Top 10 hits "Will Your Lawyer Talk to God" and "We Missed You." Other hits in the Top 20 included 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 Repossess 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," and 1966's "It's All Over (But the Crying)." 1966's "A Woman Never Forgets" did not do as well, topping the charts at No. 52. She reunited with her old duet partner, Red Foley, in the late 1960s for the making of the album Together Again and a string of unsuccessful singles which failed to crack the Top 40, like 1967's "Hello Number One."
She 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.
[edit] Later career
Wells continued recording at least two albums a year for Decca (now called MCA Records) through 1973, but success on the country charts eluded her. In 1974 she signed with Capricorn Records, a southern rock label of the era, and recorded a blues-flavored album entitled Forever Young on which she was backed by members of the Allman Brothers Band. The album was not a huge commercial success, but 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 U.S. country charts despite high critical acclaim and crossover success in Canada. Wells's 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.
[edit] Retirement
Kitty Wells officially retired with a farewell performance in her hometown of Nashville, but continued to make public appearances. She was interviewed by the CMT network in 2002 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.
[edit] Discography
[edit] 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
