Ellen Muriel Deason (August 30, 1919 – July 16, 2012), known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer.

Her chart-topping hits continued until the mid-1960s, paving the way for and inspiring a long list of female country singers who came to prominence in the 1960s.

In 1991, Wells became the third country music artist, after Roy Acuff and Hank Williams, and the eighth woman to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Wells began singing as a child, learning guitar from her father, who was a brakeman on the Tennessee Central Railroad.

Johnnie Wright chose the name from the folk ballad "Sweet Kitty Wells" by The Pickard Family.

Acuff advised Wright not to make his wife his show's headliner because he thought women could not sell country music records.

Wells, however, did not sing on their records until signing with RCA Victor in 1949, releasing some of her first singles, including "Death At The Bar" and "Don't Wait For The Last Minute To Pray", neither of which charted.

[3] Wells was disenchanted with her career prospects and was considering retirement, but agreed to the session (at Owen Bradley's studio on May 3, 1952) because of the $125 union scale recording payment.

"[2] "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" was an answer song to Hank Thompson's "The Wild Side of Life" and its lyrical treatment of seductive, wayward women.

It was the first single by a female singer to peak at number one in the eight-year history of the country music chart, where it remained for six weeks.

"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" also crossed over to Billboard's pop charts, hitting number 27.

[2] Writer Bill Friskics-Warren has argued that part of the song's appeal came from its combination of a modern message with a familiar tune, a melody drawn from the Carter Family's "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes" (as were "The Wild Side of Life" and Roy Acuff's "The Great Speckled Bird").

The single reached number six in the spring of 1953, helping to establish a lasting place at the top of the charts for Wells.

The song led to a string of hit singles from the duo within the next two decades, including 1954's "As Long as I Live", which peaked at number three.

Record companies were reluctant to issue albums by country's female artists until Wells proved that women could sell.

Wells' later 1950s releases included "Searching (For Someone Like You)" written by Murphy "Pee Wee" Maddux, and "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "Amigo's Guitar", which she wrote with John D. Loudermilk.

Dolly Parton's 1968 recording "Just Because I'm a Woman", like "Honky Tonk Angels", questioned the male-female double standard.

The well-known Nashville Sound vocal group The Jordanaires can be heard backing Wells on her big country hit from 1961 "Heartbreak USA".

That same year, Wells' singles began to return to the top 10 with "This White Circle on My Finger" and "Password", both of which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Country Chart.

The program could not compete, though, against shows starring more contemporary male artists such as Porter Wagoner and Bill Anderson, and only ran for one year.

In 1993, Wells appeared on Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette's collaboration Honky Tonk Angels, joining in on their recording of the title track.

[citation needed] Wells and her husband opened the Family Country Junction Museum and Studio in 1983 in their hometown of Madison, but stopped running it on their own in 2000.

An exhibit honoring Wells at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville ran from August 2008 through June 2009.

[18][19] On May 14, 2008, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" was added to the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress, along with Roy Orbison's "Oh, Pretty Woman".