Country music pioneer Kitty Wells was born Ellen Deason on August 30, 1919, in Nashville, Tennessee. She broke down many barriers for female country music performers and became the first female artist to top the country music charts. Kitty Wells began releasing singles in 1949 and had her first number 1 hit with “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” in 1952. She scored 16 Top 10 hits including “Paying for the Back Street Affair” (1953), “Making Believe” (1955), “Searching (For Someone Like You)” (1956), “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (1958), “Mommy for a Day” (1959), “Amigo’s Guitar” (1959), and “Left to Right” (1960) before scoring another number 1 with 1961’s “Heartbreak USA.” Nine more Top 10 hits followed in the next few years but by 1966, her releases were comfortably making the Top 50 while new country music artists were dominating the charts. Apart from her solo hits, she scored another number 1 with “One by One,” a duet with Red Foley. Other duet partners through ought her career included Webb Pierce, Johnnie Wright, and Roy Drusky. The first real female country music superstar, Kitty Wells was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1976. She was the third country music artist to be given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the eighth woman overall. Kitty Wells died after suffering a stroke on July 16, 2012, at the age of 92.
