Grammy-Winner K.T. Oslin Passes Away At The Age of 78

K.T. Oslin, a multiplatinum country singer-songwriter who won three Grammys including one for her breakout single “’80s Ladies,” died today. She was 78. She had been battling Parkinson’s disease and living in an assisted care facility for several years and recently was diagnosed with Covid-19. No official cause of death was announced.

She is by far best known for her recordings. In the 1980s she captivated us as she sang the definitive anthem of the decade, “80s Ladies.” In the 1990s she had us chuckling along with her No. 1 hit “Come Next Monday.” In the new millennium, K.T. Oslin returned with Live Close By, Visit Often, the first collection that surveyed all her musical skills as a composer, interpreter, producer and story teller. The album’s musical textures were dazzlingly diverse. On it, she ranged through country, soul, Latin, pop, dance and swing sounds.

That is as it should be: K.T. Oslin’s career has never been “by the book.” Born in Arkansas and raised in Houston, Texas, Kay Toinette Oslin initially performed as a folk singer with fellow Texan Guy Clark. She moved to New York and worked as a chorus girl in such musicals as Promises Promises, Darling of the Day and revivals of Hello Dolly and West Side Story. Then she began doing ad-jingle singing, which led to appearances in TV commercials.

Her songwriting talent led her to Nashville. She sang backup on Guy Clark’s 1978 album for Warner Bros. Records, then had a brief stint as an Elektra Records artist in 1981-82. Meanwhile, K.T.’s songs were being recorded by performers such as Gail Davies, Dottie West, Sissy Spacek, Judy Rodman and The Judds.

She broke through as an artist on RCA Records in 1987. A year later she became the first female songwriter in history to win the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year award. That song, “80s Ladies,” also led to her coronation as the CMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year and earned her the first of her three Grammy Awards. Her succeeding Grammys were for writing 1988’s “Hold Me” and for her performance of the same.

In addition to her Grammy winners, “Do Ya,” “I’ll Always Come Back,” “Hey Bobby,” “This Woman” and “Come Next Monday” all became top-10 smashes. “Wall of Tears,” “Money,” “Didn’t Expect it to Go Down This Way” and “Mary and Willi” are among her other notable disc successes. Her rendition of “Blue Christmas” on RCA’s 1990 holiday CD and her vocal on Alabama’s 1988 chart-topper “Face to Face” were also standout performances.

Her three Grammys and two CMA awards are among several show-business prizes she has received, K.T. Oslin won the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Female Vocalist and Best Video awards in 1987 and its Top Female Vocalist and Best Album awards in 1988. She was SESAC’s Most Promising Songwriter of 1982 and its Country Songwriter of the Year in 1988, 1989 and 1991.

She has also been honored repeatedly by the RIAA. Her Platinum-plus albums include 1987’s 80’s Ladies and 1988’s This Woman. Love in a Small Town (1990) and Songs From an Aging Sex Bomb: Greatest Hits (1993) are both Gold. Her 1991 video compilation Love in a Small Town was also certified Gold.

In the early ‘90s she translated disc stardom into acting prominence, winning guest-star roles on such television series as Paradise (1991), Carol and Company (1991) and Evening Shade (1994). She co-starred in the TV moviePoisoned by Love in 1992 and was featured in the 1993 theatrical film The Thing Called Love, costarring Sandra Bullock and River Phoenix. K.T.’s 1992 USO tour became the basis for her first cable special, and a year later she hosted the country-music community’s first AIDS benefit concert.

In addition to The Thing Called Love, she has been heard on the soundtracks of such films as White Palace andMy Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys. Oprah Winfrey, Johnny Carson, Larry King and virtually every other talk-show host in the industry have been charmed by her quips and wit.

She has also enjoyed continued success as a songwriter. Among those who recorded her songs in the 1990s were Dorothy Moore, Anne Murray, Dolores Keane, The Forester Sisters, Josh White Jr., Dan Seals, Amie Comeaux and Dusty Springfield. She also sang backup on Springfield’s 1995 album.

K.T. Oslin has provided stellar tracks on tribute CDs to Edith Piaf (1993), Roy Rogers (1998) and Tammy Wynette (1998), and she collaborated with Barry Manilow on his 1990 Christmas album. The singer was sidelined by coronary bypass surgery in 1995, but returned to recording with her acclaimed Americana-music CD My Roots Are Showing a year later. Her Super Hits collection was released in 1997.

She starred in a 1999 pops concert with The Nashville Symphony, then began work on 2001’s Live Close By, Visit Often. RCA saluted her with a Country Legends compilation in 2002. Her hits were repackaged for 2004’s All American Country collection. In 2011, four of her original albums from the 1980s and 1990s were reissued.

In recent years, K.T. Oslin has become a popular convention speaker, and in 2004 she began writing a memoir. She debuted her one-woman, autobiographical theater show at Belmont University in 2006. In 2012, she was nominated for induction into the Texas Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In November 2013, K.T. celebrated her 25th anniversary of the release of her iconic debut album “80’s Ladies” by performing two shows in Nashville. The first at The Rutledge with fellow singer-songwriter Gretchen Peters on November 7th, and the following week, November 15th at the Franklin Theater in Franklin, TN, she performed a 90 minute headlining set to a sold-out audience. There will be more of K.T. in 2014.