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Crystal Gayle Beauty in both form and voice |
With her rich voice and stunning long hair Crystal was a popular performer of country ballads during the '70s and '80s. Born Brenda Gail Webb she was the younger sister of country singer Loretta Lynn. When she was 16 she began touring with Lynn's show then she got a contract with Decca Records in 1970. Her first single was a cover of her sister's song "I've Cried the Blue Right Out of My Eyes," which peaked at number 23 on the country charts. She began appearing regularly on television shows in 1972 and later signed to United Artists. It was here she developed a gentler style. She released her debut album in 1975 and it provided her with three hits. One of them, "Wrong Road Again," climbed to number six on the country charts. Later in 1975, she released her second album, Somebody Loves You, and by the year's end, she had begun to develop her own fan base. In 1976, she had her first number one country hit with "I'll Get Over You." At the end of the year, she released "You Never Miss a Real Good Thing (Till He Says Goodbye)," which became her second number one single. In the summer of 1977 she had her biggest hit with "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.", the song was designed as her pop breakthrough and the strategy worked, not only did the song spend four weeks on the top of the country charts, it reached number two on the pop charts. We Must Believe In Magic, the album that contained "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blues," went platinum within a year of its 1977 release. She had three other number one hits "Ready for the Times to Get Better," "Talking in Your Sleep," and "Why Have You Left the One You Left Me For." In 1979 she became the first country artist to visit China when she participated in a Bob Hope television special. During the early '80s she continued to rack up number one and Top Ten hits. In 1980 she signed with Columbia and her first album for the label 'Miss the Mississippi' went gold. She continued to have extraordinary chart success through the spring of 1987. In the early '90s, her contract with Warners expired and she signed with Branson, where she recorded new versions of her old hits. During the '90s, she recorded infrequently, preferring to concentrate on touring America and Europe.