K.T. Oslin

Born May 15, 1942 in Crossett, Arkansas, Kay Oslin was raised with her older brother in Houston, Texas via Mobile, Alabama by her mother and maternal grandmother following the death of her father. Drawn to performing from an early age, trained in piano and a regular in local theater, she began singing with then unknown Guy Clark and Frank Davis (two fellow high school students) at the famed Houston folk scene "Jester Lounge" variety club. She also moved to California with boyfriend Frank Davis during this time and recorded a single under the name Ann Boelyn. Around 1966 Oslin's sister-in-law recommended that she audition for the incoming Broadway touring production of "Hello Dolly" with Carol Channing, which took Oslin to New York City to continue on in the Betty Grable production of the same show the next year. Although she continued in various other productions during this time, it was a Moog Synthesizer promotional tour with friend Guy Clark that found Oslin in a restroom reading graffiti in Due West, South Carolina while performing at Erskine College that sparked her songwriting talent. Her first composition, based on the graffiti, was called "(I Aint Never Gonna Love Nobody But) Cornell Crawford", which she wrote for fun but would record as an album filler years later. She then returned to New York and, when a boyfriend's parents offered her a piano, began writing songs. Bored with acting she pitched her songs to publishers in New York who sent her to Nashville where SESAC's Diane Petty took great interest in Oslin and understood her female viewpoint of writing. When Oslin signed with Elektra Records, her song "Clean Your Own Tables" failed to garner any attention. She returned to New York, continued writing and, to make ends meet, filmed several national commercials for personal products. During this time her songs were pitched to Sissy Spacek, Dottie West, Gail Davies and The Judds, who all recorded her music. Feeling the need to "do something meaningful with her life", she decided to overcome her depression by borrowing $7,000 from her aunt, flew a group of musicians to Nashville to do a showcase for invited industry professionals and sell her talent. Harold Shedd, producer of of super group Alabama, took Oslin to Joe Galante of RCA records and, at age 45, she was signed to a record deal that would spawn 2 platnium albums ("80's Ladies" and "This Woman"), 1 gold album ("Love In A Small Town"), 7 top 10 hits, multiple CMA, ACM and Grammy Awards, successful tours, television shows and movies. With her sophisticated style, brassy onstage persona, down to earth charm and lyrics that connected with her audiences, Oslin became an overnight sensation. Her signature song and its video, "80's Ladies", garnered her the first CMA Award ever awarded to a female writer for "Best Country Song". Following the release of her third album "Love In a Small Town", Oslin found touring grueling and turned toward acting in television shows and movies. After a heart attack in 1995, Oslin decided to retire from the music business, feeling that she had made her mark and that the industry was turning more toward business over art. She continued to record off and on, made personal appearances and became a beloved member of the Nashville community. In 2013 she headlined a 25th Anniversary Show at The Franklin Theater to celebrate "80's Ladies" with many industry icons in attendance that night. The next year she recorded "Simply", an album of some of her hits with a more acoustic feel and was inducted into the Texas Heritage Songwriter's Hall of Fame. In 2015 she announced that she had lost her voice due to Parkinson's Disease and moved into an assisted living the next year as she had never married or had children (despite having relationships with Nashville producer Steve Buckingham and, later, her drummer Owen Hale). In 2018 her career came full circle when she became a member of the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame, which she considered her greatest honor as her writing meant most to her of all her talents. In an effort to document all of her work and perhaps sensing time was upon her, she uploaded many of her appearances to her YouTube channel in 2018. In December of 2020 she was stricken with Covid-19 and passed away a week later. At the height of her fame she once said: "I was supposed to be the 'old dame - the dark horse'. I'm the sister that moved away from a little ordinary town with an ordinary family who wasn't happy with that and moved away to the big city. But you know me - everyone out there knows someone like me. She's fun, she's loud, she's sweet, she's hard. She's the entertainer..."