Oslin also received three Grammy Awards and Country Music Association Vocalist of the Year in 1988. She was subsequently inducted into the Texas and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Kay Towanette Oslin was born on May 15, 1942 in Ark’s Crosset. Her father, Larry, died of leukemia at the age of five. His mother, Kathleen (Bird) Oslin, worked as an experimental engineer in the Office of Veterans Affairs.

Oslin and his younger brother Larry, who passed away a few years ago, spent most of their childhood with their mother in Mobile, Alabama, and their teenagers in Houston. Oslin studied drama at Ron Morris University and forms a folk trio with singer-songwriter Guy Clark.

In the mid-1960s, she moved to New York City, where she worked in theaters and as a jingle singer.

Over the next 20 years, Oslin appeared in the Broadway musical “Promises, Promises” and the New York-based Lincoln Center’s “West Side Story” revival.

She also began writing songs and was encouraged by Diane Petty, an executive with the performing rights organization SESAC, to market Nashville song publishers with country-friendly material.

She was ultimately KayT by Elektra Records. Signed as Oslin, none of the singles she released for the label went anywhere. Her career only started to gain momentum after other singers began to be successful in her songs, which ultimately led to the showcase she performed for Mr. Galante.