 kay toinette "k. t." oslin (born may 15, 1942) is an american country music singer and songwriter. she is known for a series of top-ten country hits during the late 1980s and early 1990s, four of which topped the american country chart. ==early life== kay toinette oslin was born in crossett, arkansas. her father, a foreman at a paper mill, died when she was five. after his death, oslin and her mother moved to houston, texas. oslin attended lon morris 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, promises, promises, and hello dolly! she also sang commercial jingles around new york and began writing songs. ==musical career== ===early 1980s=== 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 hot country songs charts, while the latter did not chart. despite the poor performance of these singles, oslin had songs recorded by gail davies, the judds, and dottie west. after a showcase performance in nashville, tennessee, 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 nashville in 1987. ===1987-90=== 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 best female country vocal performance and grammy award for song of the year, as well as the number 1 hits "[[do ya (k. t. oslin song)|do
1942_births American_country_keyboardists American_country_singer-songwriters American_country_singers American_female_country_singers BNA_Records_artists Grammy_Award-winning_artists Living_people Lon_Morris_College_alumni People_from_Crossett,_Arkansas RCA_Records_Nashville_artists