K.T. Oslin, Country Singer-Songwriter of ’80’s Ladies,’ Dead at 78

Oslin was the first female songwriter in CMA Awards history to win Song of the Year...

K.T. Oslin, the first female songwriter to win the CMA Award for Song of the Year, for her 1987 hit “80’s Ladies,” died Monday at 78. Oslin had been battling Parkinson’s disease and was diagnosed with Covid-19 last week, according to her friend, the journalist Robert K. Oermann, who confirmed her death.

Oslin, born Kay Toinette Oslin in Arkansas, was 45 when she released her chart-topping debut country album, 1987’s 80’s Ladies — a remarkable feat then for a woman in country music and a near impossibility today. Along with the Top 10 title track, the LP included a pair of country Number Ones in “Do Ya” and “I’ll Always Come Back.” But it was the nostalgic ballad “80’s Ladies” — about a trio of girls who “burned our bras…dinners…and our candles at both ends” — that became her signature. “There ain’t been much these ladies ain’t tried,” Oslin sang.

RIP...!