COUNTRY SINGER KNOWN FOR HIT ‘80’S LADIES’

K.T. Oslin, the pioneering country singer-songwriter whose biggest hits gave voice to the desires and trials of female baby boomers on the cusp of middle age, died Dec. 21 at an assisted living facility. She was 78.

Country music historian Robert K. Oermann, a longtime friend, said that the cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease. He said she had also tested positive for COVID-19.

“80’s Ladies,” Oslin’s breakthrough single, became an anthem for a generation of women. Released in 1987, it heralded the arrival of a songwriting voice whose sharply drawn miniatures conveyed domestic humor and pathos reminiscent of the songs of Loretta Lynn two decades earlier.

Its rock-leaning arrangement might have had more in common with the piano-based ballads of California singersongwriter Jackson Browne than with the standard Nashville fare of the era, but “80’s Ladies” was down to earth and catchy enough to make the country Top 10 in 1987. The next year, it also made Oslin the first female songwriter to earn song of the year honors from the Country Music Association.

“Do Ya,” her next single, proved that “80’s Ladies” was no f luke; rather, it was the first in a series of poignant meditations from Oslin on the ebb and f low of midlife vulnerability and desire.

“Do Ya” was the first of Oslin’s four No. 1 country hits, cementing her place among a distinguished circle of thoughtful, independent female songwriting contemporaries that included Pam Tillis, Gretchen Peters and Matraca Berg. In contrast to their plucky rural forebears Dolly Parton and Lynn, Oslin and her peers attended college and openly embraced feminism, weaving its insights into their lyrics.

A late bloomer, Oslin was 45 when “80’s Ladies” ignited her recording career. Before that she had worked as a folk singer, appeared in traveling productions of Broadway shows like “Hello, Dolly!” (with Carol Channing) and recorded television commercials for soft drinks and household cleaning products.

She might have languished in obscurity had Joe Galante, the longtime president of RCA Nashville, not taken a chance on her when she was at an age when many recording artists were contemplating retirement.

Oslin’s first two albums for RCA, “80’s Ladies” and “This Woman,” were certified platinum for sales of more than 1 million copies.

Oslin also won three Grammy Awards, as well as female vocalist of the year honors from the Country Music Association in 1988.

Kay Toinette Oslin was born May 15, 1942, in Crossett, Ark.

Oslin spent much of her childhood in Mobile, Ala., and her teenage years in Houston, where Oslin studied drama at Lon Morris College and sang in a folk trio.

In the mid-’60s she moved to New York, where she worked in the theater and as a jingle singer.

She also started writing songs and was encouraged to pitch her country-leaning material to song publishers in Nashville.