Kitty Wells (born Ellen Muriel Deason) is an American country music singer, best known for her 1952 hit song “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” a response to Hank Thompson’s “The Wild Side of Life.” Its controversial pre-feminist lyrics, which blamed unfaithful men for creating unfaithful women, established Wells as the first major female country star.
She also as recorded a string of hits from the 1950s to the early 1970s that earned her the title “Queen of Country Music.” Her success in the 1950s and 1960’s was so great that she still ranks as the sixth most successful female vocalist in the history of the Billboard country charts. In 1976, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and she was also the third country music artist to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Here is Kitty Wells performing “There’s Poison in Your Heart,” on the Grand Old Opry TV show, in 1957:
Kitty Wells became the first female country star to have her own syndicated television show with 1968’s The Kitty Wells Show. Wells released at least two albums a year for Decca through 1973. In 1974 she signed with Capricorn Records and recorded a highly acclaimed album called “Forever Young,” and was backed by members of the Allman Brothers Band.
In the late 1970s, Kitty and husband formed their own record label and released several albums. In 1979, at age 60, she was back on the Billboard magazine charts with “I Thank You for the Roses.” In 1987, she joined Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn on K.D. Lang’s “Honky Tonk Angels” medley. In 2001, the country music legend officially retired with a farewell performance in Nashville.
In 1962, Kitty Wells released a Christmas song, on Decca Records, called “Dasher With the Light Upon His Tail,” which was an attempt to cash-in on the popularity of “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The song was written by Warner McPherson (aka Warner Mack), and was produced by legendary producer Owen Bradley, who was one of the chief architects of the “Nashville Sound” in country music.
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