Dec 14

Crystal Gayle

CRYSTAL GAYLE
 
 
Crystal Gayle  (born Brenda Gail Webb on January 9, 1951) is an award-winning American country music singer.  Best known for her 1977 country-pop crossover hit song, “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”, she accumulated 20 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s (18 on Billboard and 2 on Cashbox) with six albums certified Gold by the RIAA.  Crystal Gayle became the first female artist in country music history to reach Platinum sales with her 1977 album, We Must Believe in Magic.  She is the youngest sister (by 19 years) of singer Loretta Lynn and a distant cousin of singer Patty Loveless.   (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
In the late 1960’s, I attended a traveling show of several country artists put together by Jim Ed Brown, if memory serves.  It included one of the earliest appearances by Crystal Gayle (Loretta Lynn’s younger sister) long before her hit song “Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue”, and Roger Miller might have been the headliner; but what I really remember was the electrifying appearance by Jerry Lee Lewis, still one of the most exciting concerts I have ever seen – and the rest of the audience seemed to concur.
 
(May 2011)
 
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In 1998, an organization called Native American Music Association & Awards was started in order to bring awareness of the contributions of Native Americans to music in all its forms; the Awards have been presented annually since that time.  The surprise at taking even a quick glance at their “Did You Know” roster at www.nativeamericanmusicawards.com/halloffame.cfm is the incredible number of stars of popular music who have Native American blood – the tribe or confederation name(s) are given in parentheses here and elsewhere in this post:  Elvis Presley (Cherokee), Jimi Hendrix (Cherokee), Hank Williams (Choctaw), Willie Nelson (Cherokee), Ritchie Valens (Yakui), Aaron Neville and the Neville Brothers (Choctaw/Cherokee), Loretta Lynn and her sister Crystal Gayle (Cherokee), Kitty Wells (Cherokee), Wayne Newton (Powhatan), Michael Jackson and the Jacksons (Choctaw/Cherokee), Link Wray (Shawnee), Richie Havens (Blackfoot), Robbie Robertson of the Band (Mohawk), Tina Turner (Navaho), Cher (Cherokee), Rita Coolidge (Cherokee), Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen (Native Hawaiian – Native Americans who are not among those often called Indians), Tori Amos (Cherokee), Toni Tennille of the Captain and Tennille (Cherokee), Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter Miley Cyrus (Cherokee), Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers (Mohican), LL Cool J (Cherokee), Beyoncé (Creole), etc.  

 

Tommy Allsup (Cherokee) was a member of Buddy Holly’s new band in 1959; he “lost” a coin flip with Ritchie Valens and was thus not on board the airplane that crashed on the day the music died.   

 

(August 2013)

 

Last edited: April 3, 2021