Personalities | Kitty Wells | War Years | Country

(Vocals, b. 1919)

Born Muriel Deason, in Nashville, Tennessee, Kitty Wells was one of the first women to achieve stardom in country music. Wells began singing in the 1930s with her cousin Bessie Choate as The Deason Sisters. In 1938, she married singer Johnnie Wright, who would later partner with Jack Anglin in the popular vocal duo, Johnnie And Jack. After singing for a while with her husband and making a few gospel recordings, Wells decided to leave music behind and raise a family. But in 1952, around the time that Johnnie And Jack joined the Grand Ole Opry, Paul Cohen, an A&R man at Decca Records, paired Wells with a song called ‘It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels’, written as an ‘answer’ song to Hank Thompson’s 1952 chart-topper ‘The Wild Side Of Life’. Ultimately, Wells’ song became nearly as big a hit as Thompson’s. The single was No. 1 for six weeks in the summer of 1952, sold 800,000 copies – and even spilled over into the pop charts.

Styles & Forms | War Years | Country
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Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

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