Singer, Songwriter. Born Ellen Muriel Deason, her 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. She recorded the song just as she was intending to retire from the business to devote herself to her family full time. She learned to play the guitar at 14 and made her singing debut on the radio in 1936, appearing on some of the biggest radio hoedowns of the day, including "Louisiana Hayride" and the weekly Grand Ole Opry broadcast. Her husband, Johnnie Wright, whom she married in 1937, suggested that she adopt the stage name Kitty Wells, drawn from an old folk ballad. Wells recorded for RCA Victor in 1949, but all of her major hits were made after that for the Decca label, and several of her early records were duets with Country stars like Red Foley and Webb Pierce. During her 27-year recording career, she placed 84 singles on the Country charts, 38 of them in the Top 10, earning her the title "The Queen of Country Music." She had her own syndicated television show in 1968 and made a Country-rock album with members of the Allman Brothers and the Marshall Tucker Band in 1974. She was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1976, and was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1991, becoming only the third Country musician to receive that honor.
Singer, Songwriter. Born Ellen Muriel Deason, her 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. She recorded the song just as she was intending to retire from the business to devote herself to her family full time. She learned to play the guitar at 14 and made her singing debut on the radio in 1936, appearing on some of the biggest radio hoedowns of the day, including "Louisiana Hayride" and the weekly Grand Ole Opry broadcast. Her husband, Johnnie Wright, whom she married in 1937, suggested that she adopt the stage name Kitty Wells, drawn from an old folk ballad. Wells recorded for RCA Victor in 1949, but all of her major hits were made after that for the Decca label, and several of her early records were duets with Country stars like Red Foley and Webb Pierce. During her 27-year recording career, she placed 84 singles on the Country charts, 38 of them in the Top 10, earning her the title "The Queen of Country Music." She had her own syndicated television show in 1968 and made a Country-rock album with members of the Allman Brothers and the Marshall Tucker Band in 1974. She was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1976, and was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1991, becoming only the third Country musician to receive that honor.
Bio by: Louis du Mort
Inscription
UNITED IN MARRIAGE AND MUSIC
OCTOBER 30, 1937
I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME PHILIPPIANS 4:13
Family Members
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See more Wells memorials in:
Records on Ancestry
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