K.T. Oslin, the first female singer-songwriter to win the Country Music Association (CMA) Award for Song of the Year, for her 1987 hit “80’s Ladies,” died on Monday at 78, reports The Rolling Stone She was battling Parkinson’s disease and was also diagnosed with COVID-19 last week, according to her friend, the journalist Robert K. Oermann, who confirmed her death.
The late singer-songwriter won a trio of Grammys in the late 1980s for her songs “80s Ladies” and “Hold Me.”
She took home best country vocal performance by a female for “80s Ladies” in 1988, then won the same award and best country song for “Hold Me” in 1989. The singer-songwriter also topped the charts with her 1990 song “Come Next Monday.”
Born as Kay Toinette Oslin., Oslin began her rise to country stardom by performing in folk acts in the ’60s and starring in theatrical productions on and off-Broadway in the ’70s. She released a greatest hits album in 1993 titled “Songs From an Aging Sex Bomb.” In 1996, she was among one of the first artists to embrace the emerging Americana genre with her album “My Roots Are Showing,” which she co-produced, reports Variety.com.
Before retiring, she recorded two more albums: 2001’s “Live Close by, Visit Often” and 2015’s “Simply.”
