Kitty Wells, ‘Prototype’ for Female Country Singers, Dies at 92

Kitty Wells, the singer whose achievements as a solo artist broke down barriers to country- music stardom for women, has died. She was 92. Wells died yesterday at her home in Madison, Tennessee, of complications from a stroke, the New York Times reported, citing her grandson John Sturdivant Jr. Wells was the first female artist to have a No. 1 country single. She reached the milestone in 1952 with “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” a song that blamed unfaithful men for causing “many a good girl to go wrong.” Afterward, she became known as the queen of country music. Twenty-three singles she recorded made Billboard magazine’s country top 10 between 1952 and 1965. Before her rise to prominence, women were typically confined to country duos or groups. She blazed a trail for singers such as Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette to become household names on their own. “Kitty Wells is the prototype,” said Kyle Young, director of Nashville, Tennessee-based Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which inducted her in 1976. “Her success in selling records and concert tickets led record companies to open their doors to women artists.” For more than 70 years, she was married to Johnnie Wright, who toured with her and also worked with his brother-in-law in Johnnie and Jack, a country duo. Wright came up with her stage name, found in the title of a folk song, “Sweet Kitty Wells.”...more