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K.T. OSLIN..A LATE BLOOMER WITH 80’S LADIES

March 16, 2019 — Leave a comment

In 1988, I won an award offered by the company I worked for in California. The company CEO, owned a converted America’s Cup vessel named the Cheetah that he anchored in the Caribbean. The award for highest cash flow performance among his forty companies was a ten-day cruise for four on his yacht. My wife and I invited one of our major clients and his wife to sail with us out of Bermuda, as that was where the boat was currently berthed.

As we boarded the Cheetah, we found ourselves in very luxurious surroundings with accommodations finished in teak and mahogany, stocked with our favorite foods and beverages and a large supply of first-run movies and CD’s. Among those was a new album recorded by K.T. Oslin, an artist I had never heard of. During that trip we played the hell out of that album and became familiar with every song on it, especially 80’s Ladies, that was written by Oslin herself.

Kay Toinette Oslin (born May 15, 1942) is a country singer and songwriter. Best known for her 1987 top ten hit country single,80’s Ladies She is also well known for a series of other top-ten country hits during the late 1980s and early 1990s, four of which topped the American Country chart. Worldwide, Oslin, has sold about 5 million albums. As of 2014, she had a net worth of $2 million.

She was born in Crossett, Arkansas. Her father, a foreman at a paper mill, died when she was five years old. After his death, Oslin and her mother moved to Houston. Oslin attended college where she majored in drama. She also performed in a folk trio that included Guy Clark and David Jones, which recorded an album that was never released.

Oslin later moved to New York City where in the 1970s, she appeared in productions of West Side Story and Hello Dolly. She also sang commercial jingles around New York and began writing songs.

By 1981, she had signed to Elektra Records and released two singles as Kay T. Oslin: “Clean Your Own Tables” and “Younger Men (Are Startin’ to Catch My Eye)”. The former made number 72 on the Country charts, while the latter did not chart. Despite the poor performance of these singles, Oslin had songs recorded by The Judds and Dottie West After a showcase performance in Nashville she was spotted by producer Harold Shedd, best known for his work with Alabama. Shedd helped Oslin, now using K.T. Oslin as her stage name, sign with RCA in 1987.

Oslin’s first RCA single, “Wall of Tears”, made number 40 on the country charts. It was followed by 80’s Ladies which went to number 7 and won Oslin the Grammy Award for song of the year as well as the number 1 hits “Do Ya and “I’ll Always Come Back.”  The following year, she also won Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Song of the Year.

After these songs, Oslin retired from touring, as her stamina; had depleted. As it was, her retirement coincided with the chart declines of many country artists who were over 40.

In 1996, she returned to singing. She signed with BNA records and recorded My Roots Are Showing…, which included the single “Silver Tongue and Goldplated Lies”. Five years later, she released a second and final album for BNA titled Live Close By, Visit Often, which she co-produced.

Oslin returned to the stage in November 2013 for a concert at Franklin Theater in Franklin, Tennessee to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her debut album, 80’s Ladies.

On November 30, 2014 she performed live at the Grand Ole Opry (and on 650am WSM simulcast). Though she had been on the Opry previously, it was her first time on stage at the Ryman Auditorium.

On June 2, 2015, 15 years since the release of her last studio album, Live Close By, Visit Often in 2001, Oslin released her sixth studio album. The album was titled Simply. The album failed to chart.

Here is K.T. with her memorable song, 80’s Ladies containing some of the strongest lyrics ever written. Enjoy (or not.) https://youtu.be/ATwLV4bgCcc

 

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