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Do you remember.....?

And here’s the Top 40 Singles of 1979 according to NME. Incidentally, more singles were sold in 1979 than in any other year…

With Caerphilly Workmen's Hall – I just got recognised as one of their top fans! 🎉

Easy peasy....

With Green Man Festival – I just got recognised as one of their top fans! 🎉

With Yvette's Mobile Record Shop – I just got recognised as one of their top fans! 🎉

Her name is Crystal Gayle, and she proved that sometimes the hardest person to step out from behind is the person you love most.

Born Brenda Gail Webb on January 9, 1951, in Paintsville, Kentucky, she was the baby of the family — the youngest of eight children, roughly two decades younger than her already-famous sister, Loretta Lynn. When Brenda was four, the family moved to Wabash, Indiana. A few years later, her father, a former coal miner, died — leaving her mother to raise the younger children while Loretta's career took off.

Growing up, Brenda watched her sister become the "Coal Miner's Daughter" — the voice of working-class women, a queen of traditional country. Everyone assumed Brenda, with her obvious talent and family connections, would follow the same road.

She had other ideas.

Singing in her brothers' band and touring as a backup singer for Loretta, Brenda realized she loved music — just not the traditional honky-tonk sound Loretta built her career on. She was drawn to pop melodies, softer production, something that could reach beyond a strictly country audience. At the time, that was risky. Country purists saw "crossover" as selling out. And for Loretta Lynn's little sister, specifically, to chase a pop sound? That bordered on heresy.

She was determined anyway.

When she signed with Decca Records, the label needed a new name for her — there was already a "Brenda Lee" on the roster. Driving along one day, Loretta spotted a sign for the Krystal hamburger chain and suggested it on the spot. Paired with her own middle name, Gail, Brenda Webb became Crystal Gayle.

Her 1970 debut single, "I've Cried (The Blue Right Out of My Eyes)" — written by Loretta — reached the country top 40, but for a few years afterward, Crystal was caught between industry expectations that she'd simply become "another Loretta Lynn" and her own instinct that she needed to be something else entirely. In 1974, she made the leap: she left Decca for United Artists, specifically chasing creative freedom, and scored a top 10 hit with "Wrong Road Again."

Then 1976 changed everything. "I'll Do It All Over Again" — a lush, orchestrated ballad that sounded nothing like traditional country — hit #1. She'd proven she could have a hit entirely on her own terms.

And then came 1977, and "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue."

It wasn't just a country song. It was an elegant, sophisticated pop ballad with country roots, Crystal's crystalline voice floating over polished arrangements. It went to #1 on the country charts and climbed to #2 on the pop charts, becoming one of the biggest crossover hits of the decade. The album, "We Must Believe in Magic," became the first album by a female country artist to be certified platinum. Crystal won her first Grammy, for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

She wasn't "Loretta Lynn's little sister" anymore. She was Crystal Gayle — platinum-selling, award-winning, and entirely her own artist.

Through the late '70s and '80s, she kept dominating both country and pop charts with hits like "Talking in Your Sleep," "You Never Miss a Real Good Thing," and "You and I," her duet with Eddie Rabbitt. She hosted her own TV specials, and became known for her signature floor-length hair — long enough to stand on — nearly as iconic as her voice. She helped pave the way for later crossover artists like Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and Taylor Swift.

But her real achievement was quieter than any chart position. It was learning to say, to someone she loved and admired deeply, "I love you, but I'm not you — and that's okay." That's a hard thing to say to any older sibling. It's much harder when that sibling is a living legend.

Crystal married her high school sweetheart, Bill Gatzimos, in 1971. They've been together for more than fifty years. In 2009, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She didn't try to become another Loretta Lynn. She became the first, and only, Crystal Gayle — and country music was changed because of it.

What's your favorite Crystal Gayle song? Tell us below.