Kitty Wells Dies – The Original Queen Of Country Music

The original Queen of Country Music is now a honky tonk angel.  Kitty Wells, the first woman in history to have a No. 1 Country Record with 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels' in 1952 has passed at the age of 92 from complications resulting from a stroke.

Kitty Wells was a pioneer in Country Music. In a male dominated business, she knocked down the door for female artists like Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn (pictured above in 2004).  Although she was a hitmaker in the '50s, she continued to perform into the ’90s, with her final tour coming just before her retirement in 2000. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1976, and was presented a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 1991.

Kitty Wells' late husband, Johnny Wright, died in 2011 at the age of 97.  Wright had hits as part of the duo Johnny and Jack and as a solo artist with 'Hello Vietnam.'  In addition, Wright toured consistently with Wells through their 74 years of marriage -one of the longest celebrity marriages in history.

Watch Kitty Wells sing 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.'