Kitty Wells, first female country superstar, dies

Kitty Wells' 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. Kitty Wells' 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. Photo: Houston Chronicle File Photo: Houston Chronicle File Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Kitty Wells, first female country superstar, dies 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Kitty Wells, whose achievements as a solo artist broke barriers to country-music stardom for women, has died. She was 92.

The singer's family said she died peacefully at home after complications from a stroke.

Wells was the first female artist to have a No. 1 country single, reaching 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." Billboard magazine had been charting country singles for about eight years at that time, and its success dashed the notion that women couldn't be headliners.

"Kitty Wells is the prototype," said Kyle Young, director of 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."

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.

Her solo recording career lasted from 1952 to the late 1970s, although she toured from the late 1930s until 2000. Wells recorded about 50 albums, had 25 Top 10 country hits and went around the world several times. From 1953 to 1968, various polls listed Wells as the No. 1 female country singer and she was known as the "queen of country music."

Wells received the Pioneer Award from the Academy of Country Music in 1986 and five years later received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences - the group that presents the Grammy Awards.

"I never really thought about being a pioneer," she said in 2008. "I loved doing what I was doing."

Among her other hits were "Making Believe" - a 1955 release that was on the soundtrack of "Mississippi Burning" 33 years later - and "The Things I Might Have Been," "Release Me," "Amigo's Guitar," "Heartbreak USA," "Left to Right" and a version of "I Can't Stop Loving You."

In 1989, Wells collaborated with Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn and k.d. lang on the record "The Honky Tonk Angels Medley."

Her songs tended to treasure devotion and home life, with titles like "Searching (For Someone Like You)" and "Three Ways (To Love You)." But her "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" gave the woman's point of view about the wild side of life.

The song was written by J.D. Miller as a retort to Hank Thompson's 1952 hit, "The Wild Side of Life." It opened the way for women to present their view of life and love in country music. It also encouraged Nashville songwriters to begin writing from a woman's perspective.

The song was controversial enough that the Grand Ole Opry asked Wells not to perform it, and some radio stations were reluctant to play it.

"They get away with a lot more today," Wells told the Associated Press in 1986. "They're more (sexually) suggestive today."

In 2008, the Library of Congress announced that Wells' record had been added to its National Recording Registry of works of unusual historic merit.

Wells was known as a gracious, elegant and family-oriented person.

"What I've done has been satisfying," she told the AP in 1986. "I wouldn't change a thing."

About her many years of touring, she said, "I like going to different places and seeing the scenery and meeting the people. I've always enjoyed traveling. It's as good a way as any to spend your time."

Wells was born Ellen Muriel Deason on Aug. 30, 1919. Her parents, Charles and Myrtle Deason, were both musicians.

After living on the outskirts of Nashville, the family moved to the city before she entered high school. She learned to play guitar, sang in the church choir and went to country shows at the Grand Ole Opry with her mother.

Wells dropped out of high school in 1934, during the Great Depression, to work at a shirt factory. The following year, she joined two of her sisters, Mae and Jewel, and a cousin, Bessie Choate, to start the Deason Sisters. The group had a show on a local radio station.

Wells married Johnnie Wright, half of a duo called Johnnie and Jack, in 1938 when she was not yet 20, and soon began touring with the duo. She took her stage name from an old folk song, "Sweet Kitty Wells."

Wells starred in a syndicated television show in 1968, and Wright joined her the following year. The program ran into the 1970s and featured their three children, who each went on to a musical career.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.