Kitty Wells

There are singers who are trailblazer who some people know little about.  Kitty Wells was a giant in Country music, but I've always felt she went unappreciated.  While Loretta, Dolly and Tammy are often the most-cited influential female Country singers, Wells was there before them.  She had 35 Top 10 hits and 81 charted records.

So, her death is a good time for the uninitiated to go find her music.  Without her we may never have had the above 3 singers.  She was called the "Queen of Country Music" not because she was the first female singer to have hit records, but because she was the first to become a huge star in an era that was dominated chart-wise by men.