Kay Toinette Oslin (May 15, 1942 – December 21, 2020) was an American country music singer-songwriter. She had several years of major commercial success in the late 1980s after signing a record deal at age 45. Oslin had four number one hits and placed additional singles on the Billboard country chart during that timespan; in addition, she won three Grammy Awards and is an inductee of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Oslin moved to Alabama after the death of her father, then to Texas. She developed an appreciation for folk music while studying theater in college and later started a folk trio. In 1966, she returned to theater after being cast in the touring production of Hello, Dolly! She then moved to New York City, where she continued acting in Broadway musicals and television commercials. At the same time, she began songwriting as a hobby. After a demo recording was made of her music, Oslin briefly signed to Elektra Records in 1981 without much success. She later signed to RCA Records in 1986 and had her first major hit the following year with "80's Ladies". Her 1987 debut album of the same name would sell over one million copies and produce three additional hits, including the number one single "Do Ya'".
Oslin released This Woman (1988) and Love in a Small Town (1990), which reached the top ten of the Billboard charts. The albums spawned hit singles including "Hold Me", "Hey Bobby" and "Come Next Monday". In the early 1990s, she left her recording contract and went into a hiatus following several personal setbacks. In 1996, she returned with the studio album "My Roots Are Showing..." and then in 2001 with Live Close By, Visit Often. Oslin released her final album in 2015 titled Simply.
Early years
Oslin was born in Crossett, Arkansas, in 1942 to Larry and Kathleen Oslin. When Oslin was 5, her father died from leukemia, leaving her mother widowed. His death resulted in her becoming shy and withdrawn. The family moved to Mobile, Alabama, following her father's death, which is where Oslin spent her childhood. When she was a teenager, her mother moved her family to Houston, Texas, where she would eventually graduate from high school.
While in college, Oslin formed a folk trio with David Jones and singer-songwriter Guy Clark. Together, they performed in local clubs, restaurants and other venues in Texas. The trio eventually recorded a song for a 1963 folk compilation titled Look, It's Us! On lead vocals, Oslin performed the tune "Brave Young Soldier". She would later form a folk duo with Frank Davis. In Hollywood, California, the pair—billed as "Frankie and Johnny"—recorded an album, which was not released. Oslin returned to Houston following the stint.
Career
1966–1986: Broadway, commercials and beginnings in Nashville
In 1966, Hello, Dolly!s national tour ended and Oslin moved to New York City to pursue acting. She remained in the city for 20 years where she got several small stage role parts. Oslin appeared as part of the ensemble in the Broadway shows Promises, Promises and West Side Story. She also found work singing commercial jingles. She was often cast in hygiene-product commercials. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Oslin recalled being cast in a hemorrhoid commercial: "Hemorrhoids! Lord! I had a hemorrhoid commercial that had people I knew from the 3d grade calling me up saying, 'Is that you?'" Oslin also developed an interest in songwriting after being given a piano. She taught herself chord patterns and wrote music that went along with it. Her interest in country music also developed after New York started their first country radio station. She found the music to be more sophisticated than what it previously had been and began writing country songs after that. While performing as part of a synthesizer troupe, Oslin was inspired to write her first country song from writing she saw on a bathroom wall. Written on the wall were the words, "I ain't gonna love nobody but Cornell Crawford." Oslin wrote the song with friend Joe Miller and she would later record it in 1990.
Oslin eventually made a demonstration tape of her compositions and brought them to the attention of the performance rights group SESAC. From there, it was brought to the attention of their Nashville executive, Dianne Petty. Petty encouraged Oslin's musical talent and helped bring her music to the attention of Nashville record executives. At the same time, Oslin also found work singing with Guy Clark on his 1978 self-titled album. Through Petty's assistance, Oslin acquired a "singles-only" recording contract with Elektra Records. Despite breaking into the top 40, the song failed to become a major hit. In April, the label issued the self-penned "80's Ladies", which became her first major hit. The single peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in July and went to number four on the RPM Country Singles chart in Canada. It would later win the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Song of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards. Oslin became the CMA's first female artist to win the Song of the Year accolade. It became the highest-charting album by a female country artist in 20 years, It was also her highest-charting release on the Billboard 200 reaching a peak of 68 in March 1988. It would later certify platinum in the United States for selling over one million copies. Both of the follow-up singles to "80's Ladies" ("Do Ya'" and "I'll Always Come Back") reached number one on the country chart. That year, she toured with Alabama and George Strait, and recorded her second album for RCA. In August 1988, This Woman was released. Oslin wrote (or co-wrote) all ten of the album's tracks. According to Oslin, This Woman reflected the modern thinking of middle-aged women of the eighties. Rolling Stone named it one of their "12 Classic Albums" in 2018 and found it to define female independence. Rock critic Robert Christgau gave the album a "B" rating, praising the album's defiance of gender roles in the Nashville establishment. It produced the number one hit, "Hold Me", which would also win her a second Grammy award. It was followed by the top five hits, "Hey Bobby" and its title track. who also served as the opening act of her newly established headlining tour. However, her constant road schedule was negatively affecting her mental health. She took several months off from appearances to refocus and readjust her mental health. "It took me months to become a human," she told the Chicago Tribune in 1990. Oslin also took time to write and record her third studio album. In late 1990, Love in a Small Town was released on RCA Records. The project peaked at number five on the Billboard country albums chart and spent 71 weeks there. Despite the album's first single becoming only a minor hit, the second single, "Come Next Monday", would be her fourth number one single on the country chart. and number 126 on the Billboard 200. Along with eight of her major hits, Greatest Hits also included three new songs. Notably included was a re-recording of "New Way Home". It was later released as single and spent three weeks on the Billboard country chart. Jack Hurst of The Chicago Tribune found its new tracks to be "pop sounding" but also found it to blend effectively with her previous hits.
1993–2015: Acting transition, hiatus and return to the spotlight
Oslin began turning her career towards acting by 1994. This began with a guest appearance on the television western, Paradise. Oslin portrayed a mother living in rural America and performed the song, "Down in the Valley". She would also appear on a television special with Carol Burnett where she performed a duet version of her song, "New Way Home". In 1993, Oslin made her first appearance in a film called The Thing Called Love. She starred alongside Hollywood actors Sandra Bullock and River Phoenix. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, the film's plot focused on Nashville and the main character's dream of becoming a country music songwriter. Oslin portrayed Lucy, a fictional owner of the Bluebird Café. Reviewers, including The Austin Chronicle, disliked the movie, but praised Oslin's performance. "She's so country and so good in her role, she reveals the rest of the movie to be as artificial as it is," Louis Black wrote in 1993. Also in 1993, Oslin appeared in the television movie, Poisoned by Love: The Kern County Murders.
Oslin would also take several years away from music during the mid 1990s. She faced several personal setbacks including a severe depression, side effects from menopause and quadruple bypass surgery. It was received unfavorably by Allmusic, which only rated it 2.5 stars. Bill Carpenter commented that "The only issue is that this was marketed as a country album when the Nashville element isn't terribly conspicuous." However, Robert K. Oermann of Music Row commented that the album showcased how Oslin was an example of the "emerging Americana music movement."
After another hiatus, Oslin released her fifth studio album titled, Live Close By, Visit Often, in 2001. She co-produced the album with The Mavericks' lead vocalist Raul Malo. Alanna Nash found the album to be "schizophrenic" in its musical diversity, but did praise Oslin's vocal performance throughout. Live Close By, Visit Often spent 11 weeks on the Billboard country albums list and peaked at number 35, becoming her final charting album. Its title track was released as the first single and reached a minor chart position on the country songs list.
Oslin went into a third career hiatus after 2001. Speaking to Country Music Television in 2011, she explained that the decision to stop performing was conscious. "I asked my people, 'Do I have enough money to quit right now?' and they said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Well, then, I quit!'" In 2015, Simply was released on Red River Entertainment. The album contained re-recordings of her previous material and one new track titled, "Do You Think About Me". Oslin went into her final retirement following the record's release. Oslin's musical style is rooted in country, but also incorporates elements of country pop, pop rock and adult contemporary. Examples of pop and "anthemic rock" can be found in her first two RCA albums, as noted by Steve Huey of Allmusic. Lorrie Morgan made a similar comment in 2020: "She was a big inspiration to me and her writing about the strength of women." Her artistry helped influence other female country singer–songwriters that followed such as Brandy Clark Mary Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann commented on her musical legacy in 2003: "K. T. was part of a 1980s invasion of female songwriting talent into Nashville. Today, virtually every major song publisher in [Music City] has female staff writers."
Oslin was part of a group of country artists who helped shift its musical sound in the late 1980s. Writers and critics have cited her as an innovator of Nashville's musical shift, along with Steve Earle, k. d. lang and Lyle Lovett. In 2018, she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Personal life and death
Oslin never married. However, she did have several long-term relationships through her middle age. This included a several-year relationship in the 1970s with Alan Rubin, a musician and former member of The Blues Brothers. The couple lived for two years in upstate New York in a rural community. The relationship dissolved after two years and Oslin moved back to New York City. It was Rubin who gave Oslin her first piano following their separation. Oslin would dive into songwriting following her breakup: "That pulling back period is when I started to write." Oslin later dated record producer Steve Buckingham and drummer Owen Hale. However, these relationships eventually ended. "I'm alone, but I like my own company," she told People magazine in 1993.
In the early 1990s, Oslin revealed a battle with menopausal depression, which caused her to lose interest in creating music, songwriting, and performing. According to Oslin, she returned to normalcy after she stopped taking hormones prescribed by her doctor. Oslin's mother died around the same period, which caused further depressive episodes. In 1995, she began suffering from chest pain after a routine lawn mowing, and after several examinations, it was discovered that she needed quadruple bypass surgery. She was interred at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville adjacent to fellow country music star Tammy Wynette.
Discography
;Studio albums
- 1987: 80's Ladies
- 1988: This Woman
- 1990: Love in a Small Town
- 1996: "My Roots Are Showing..."
- 2001: Live Close By, Visit Often
- 2015: Simply
Filmography
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+ Film and television appearances by K. T. Oslin
! scope="col"|Title
! scope="col"|Year
! scope="col"|Role
! scope="col" class="unsortable"| Notes
!
|-
| Paradise
| 1990
| Lenore
|
|
|-
| Carol & Company
| 1991
| Various sketch characters
|
|
|-
| Poisoned by Love: The Kern County Murders
| rowspan="2"| 1993
| Candy
| television film
|
|-
| The Thing Called Love
| Lucy
|
|
|-
| rowspan="5"| 1987
| rowspan="2"| Grammy Awards
| Best Female Country Vocal Performance – "80's Ladies"
|
|
|-
| Best Country Song – "80's Ladies"
|
|
|-
| Country Music Video of the Year – "80's Ladies"
|
|
|-
| Female Vocalist of the Year
|
|
|-
| National Performance Activity – "Come Next Monday"
|
|