Name at birth: Ellen Muriel Deason

Kitty Wells sang on radio and at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry before recording her 1952 hit "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels." She became the first woman to hit the top of the country charts, and she went on to be the top female country artist for over a decade. In 1976 she was inducted into the Country Music Association Hall of Fame, and in 1991 she was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.