Crystal Gayle

Crystal Gayle (born Brenda Gail Webb January 9, 1951) is an American country and pop singer, She is the youngest daughter of Melvin Ted and Clara Marie Webb, who raised eight children on a meager coal miner's salary. By the time Gayle was born, her sister Loretta Lynn, nineteen years older, had married and moved away. She is also a distant cousin of singer Patty Loveless. In the late 1970s and in the 1980s, she had great pop crossover success with "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue", "Talking in Your Sleep" and "Half the Way". She is also famous for her nearly floor-length hair and was voted one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1983.

Biography & Career

Early life & rise to success

Brenda Gail Webb was born in Paintsville, Kentucky, but grew up in the rural farming community of Wabash, Indiana - an area quite different from the coal mines of Butcher Holler, Kentucky where her older sister, Loretta Lynn was raised. Webb was exposed to various genres of music performing folk music, singing background in her brother's band and taking up guitar. As early as 1967, while she was still in high school, Gayle began to tour part time with Lynn. ^[1] In 1970, Lynn's label, Decca Records signed Webb to their record company. To avoid confusion with Brenda Lee who was also signed to Decca, Lynn suggested that Webb change her name. Brenda Gail Webb changed her first name to Crystal (a nickname given to her as a child because of a fondness for Krystal Hamburgers) and her last name to Gayle (from her middle name). Gayle released her first single that year called "I've Cried (The Blue Right Out Of My Eyes)", a song written by Lynn. The song reached No. 23 that year and got her noticed. Gayle appeared regularly on country music shows like Jim Ed Brown's show, The Country Place. Her singing style, however, was very similar to her older sister's and it was suggested she find a sound of her own. She continued to release records with Decca up until 1972 and then with the newly formed MCA Records. She did not return to the Country Top 40 until 1974's "Restless". After signing with United Artists, Gayle worked with producer Allen Reynolds who helped establish her Countrypolitan or Country Pop sound. In 1975, she achieved her first Top 10 Country hit, "Wrong Road Again" (No. 6). A self-titled album was also released. The next year, she achieved another Top 10 record, "Somebody Loves You" (No. 8), followed by her first No. 1, "I'll Get Over You," which was also her first Hot 100 entry (No. 71). She scored two more Top 2 hits, "You Never Miss A Real Good Thing (Till He Says Goodbye)" (No. 1) and "I'll Do It All Over Again" (No. 2), in 1977 before achieving the greatest success of her career.

"Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue"

Reynolds, feeling that Gayle was poised for a larger breakthrough, encouraged her to record the Jazz-flavored Pop ballad "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," which he felt sure had crossover potential. He was right — not only did the song hit No. 1 for four weeks on the Country charts in 1977, it also climbed to No. 2 Pop and No. 4 AC and won Gayle a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The accompanying album, We Must Believe in Magic, became the first by a female country artist ever to go platinum. ^[2] In 1977 and 1978, she was awarded the CMA Awards' Female Vocalist of the Year. She toured worldwide including Britain with Kenny Rogers and China with Bob Hope where she became the first person to tape a performance on the Great Wall of China. She appeared in her own specials on CBS which led to her "Christmas In Sweden" special.

Country and Crossover (1978 - 1990)

Crystal Gayle and sister Loretta Lynn on the cover of People magazine in 1978.

After the success of Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, Gayle and her record producers leaned more toward Pop/Adult Contemporary-styled country music with each new release. For the next ten years, she would have her biggest success. However, Gayle was always first identified as a country star. Some people thought Gayle and her sister were in competition with one another, but both Lynn and Gayle dismissed any rivalry in a 1978 People magazine cover story.

Gayle remade a previously recorded track from her Crystal album, Ready For The Times To Get Better, as her first single after Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue. Although the single became her fourth No. 1 Country hit, it failed to reach the Pop Top 40 (No. 52). Gayle's next album, When I Dream, yielded three Top 3 Country hits - the No. 1 songs Talking In Your Sleep and Why Have You Left The One You Left Me For as well as the No. 3 When I Dream. Talking In Your Sleep returned Gayle to the Pop Top 20 (No. 18). Gayle left United Artists for Columbia Records in 1979 for her next album, Miss The Mississippi. She returned again to the Pop Top 20 with that album's first single, Half The Way, which became her last solo Top 20 Pop hit. Gayle started the 1980s with another No. 1 country hit, It's Like We Never Said Goodbye (No. 63 Pop, No. 17 AC). This song led a historic Top 5 on the Billboard Country Singles chart on which the Top 5 positions were all held by women:

1. Crystal Gayle ("It's Like We Never Said Goodbye")
2. Dottie West ("A Lesson In Leavin'")
3. Debby Boone ("Are You On The Road To Lovin' Me Again")
4. Emmylou Harris ("Beneath Still Waters")
5. Tammy Wynette ("Two Story House" with George Jones)

Gayle's next album, Hollywood, Tennessee, was her most obvious attempt at country crossover. The album's A-side, Hollywood was pop while the album's B-side, Tennessee, was country. The album's three singles all reached the Country Top 10, but only the first single, The Woman In Me, reached the Hot 100 (No. 76). Gayle's singles, however, frequently charted Top 20 on the AC chart throughout the 1980s. In 1982, Gayle worked on the Francis Ford Coppola film, One from the Heart, recording songs for the movie's soundtrack with Tom Waits. She then switched record labels again to Elektra Records. Her first Elektra album, True Love, produced the No. 1 country hits Til I Gain Control Again, Our Love Is On The Faultline (No. 23 AC) and Baby, What About You (No. 83 Pop, No. 9 AC). She also recorded a duet, You And I with Elektra labelmate Eddie Rabbitt for his Radio Romance album which quickly ascended No. 1 on the Country charts. The song also returned Gayle to the Pop Top 10 (No. 7) and became her biggest AC hit ever (No. 2). Elektra Records was folded into Warner Bros. Records during 1983. Gayle's first Warner Bros. album, Cage The Songbird, spawned two more No. 1 Country hits - The Sound Of Goodbye and Turning Away - and two other Top 5 Country hits - I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love (No. 2) and Me Against The Night (No. 4). The Sound Of Goodbye is her final entry on the Hot 100 (No. 84) and Top 10 AC hit (No. 10) to date. In 1985, she released her next album, Nobody Wants To Be Alone, which contained two Top 5 Country hits - the title track (No. 3) and A Long And Lasting Love (No. 5). Later that year, she teamed with Gary Morris to record a duet for the soundtrack to the Dallas television series. The song, Makin' Up For Lost Time (The Dallas Lovers' Song), reached No. 1 Country, but became Gayle's last AC chart appearance (No. 36) to date. Her 1986 album, Straight To The Heart, began promisingly with two more No. 1 Country singles - Cry and the title track. These songs, however, would be the last of Gayle's 18 No. 1 Country singles. She reunited with Gary Morris in 1987 to record the album, What If We Fall In Love, which would yield another theme from a television soap opera, Another World (No. 4). This became Gayle's last Top 10 Country hit to date. As traditional Country singers such as Randy Travis and Gayle's distant cousin, Patty Loveless, began to rule the country airwaves in the late 1980s, the success of crossover artists like Gayle began to wane. Gayle's last charted single was 1990's Never Ending Song Of Love (No. 72). She continues to record and perform. In 1987, she guest-starred on the soap opera Another World. She played herself, a friend of the character Felicia Gallant, and was menaced by a serial killer known as the "Sin Stalker." She sang the show's theme with Gary Morris at the Daytime Emmy Awards and their song was used as the show's theme until March 1996. She also guest-starred on Second City TV in 1983 and acted in a comic sendup of A Star Is Born.

Later career & life today

In 1990, she rejoined her old producer Allen Reynolds to record an album called Ain't Gonna Worry. She occasionally released albums during the decade, focusing more on touring. In 1997, she released a new album entitled Crystal Gayle Sings the Heart and Soul of Hoagy Carmichael, which put her voice into Jazz-Pop content. Gayle's admitted her "heartbeat" is her family. She married her high school sweetheart, Bill Gatzimos, shortly after graduating high school. The couple have two children, Catherine and Cris, and one grandson, Elijah. Gayle's family resides in Nashville, where she also has her own specialty store, "Crystal's for Fine Gifts and Jewelry." One of Gayle's most cherished awards came in October 2000, when the Cherokee Nation bestowed upon her their highest award, the Cherokee Medal of Honor. Gayle is known to be the female artist with the longest hair in the world. Her website says she grew her hair to such incredible lengths because she had to have it boyishly short as a child. She has had at least "classic length" all through adulthood, but now keeps her hair to three inches off the floor (though because of its excellent condition, many people think it is indeed floor length, despite the fact that while on stage, she always wears high heels to lift it higher.) "If it's on the ground, I find I step on it on stage. When you've hair like this, you cannot plan anything other than washing your hair and doing your concert." While singing, she frequently stands with her back to the audience, who watch her luxurious hair sway back and forth. Gayle has confessed she sometimes has nightmares about waking up with all her hair cut off, and ever since a fan cut off a large chunk of her sister's hair, Gayle has been extra protective of her own hair. She has also posed for pictures with other women with very long hair (also sometimes to the floor). Her daughter has much shorter hair, and Gayle has often remarked she is sad that so far her daughter has chosen not to follow in her mother's long hair footsteps. On June 9, 2005, she took the stage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee for a live reprise of her cross-over smash hit, "You and I," a duet she had recorded with Eddie Rabbitt. That song had been named the number 7 all-time best/favorite Country Music Duet during a countdown and concert that listed the "Top 100 Greatest Country Duets" of all time. A new Crystal Gayle in Concert DVD was taped in Nashville on June 9, 2005 released later that year. In 2006, she appeared on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition when she stopped by to help with the making of a new house near Nashville. That same year, she also announced the release of another live album entitled Live! An Evening With Crystal Gayle. Most recently, she appeared on a Country music special on channel thirteen, where she sung her signature song, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". In 2007, she was chosen to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Crystal will be awarded her star in Hollywood in early 2008. Also in 2007, The 2nd Annual American Entertainment Magazine Reader's Choice Awards named Crystal Gayle 'Best Female Entertainer' as she continues to tour the globe. Gayle commented on the award: "I really appreciated being voted 'Best Female Entertainer,' and I'm pleased that my show is appreciated by talent buyers and promoters. I love performing, and we always have a great time with our audience and everyone we work with. I'm happy that my band, crew and staff are all professional, talented and nice; they help make touring easy and fun." Three dozen hit records and 19 number ones mark her continued success as she enters 2007 and prepares to embark on yet another worldwide tour. Popular hits decorating her show include "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," "Talking In Your Sleep" and "Half the Way." With a track record as long as her trademark floor-length hair, the recognition from the American Entertainment Magazine is well-deserved. A very distinctive song, "Midnight in the Desert" [1],"unavailable anywhere", was recorded especially for the international radio program 'Coast to Coast AM'. Whenever founder Art Bell makes one of his rare appearances, he (usually) uses it as outgoing bumper music.

Stolen tour bus incident

Gayle became involved in a fugitive hunt for Christopher Gay in January 2007, who had escaped from custody at an Interstate 95 welcome center near Hardeeville, South Carolina on the 21st by stealing a pickup truck. After stealing a tractor-trailer cab in Forest Park, Georgia, Gay headed to central Tennessee, hooking up a Wal-Mart trailer in Manchester, Tennessee in the process. On the 23rd, Gay managed to obtain the keys to Gayle's tour bus. He took the bus all the way down from Old Hickory, Tennessee to Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, parking the bus in a VIP spot next to NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Jeff Gordon on the 25th. Gay was arrested for prostitution the following day and Gayle got her tour bus back.^[3]

Discography

Charted singles

• ^A Re-release of the original single in 1970
• ^B Original version released on Crystal; single version later included on Classic Crystal
• ^C Later released on Gayle/Morris album What If We Fall In Love?

Albums

Awards & nominations

References

• Flippo, Chet. (1998). "Crystal Gayle." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Ed. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 156-7.

External links

• Official Website
• A fan web page from France including many documents
• Crystal's Place: A Tribute to Crystal Gayle
• CMT.com: Crystal Gayle
• Opening sequence to Another World, with Crystal Gayle theme, from The World of Soap Themes.
• Crystal Gayle feature in Long Hair World