When it comes to marriage vows, it can sometimes seem like "till death do us part" means something different to celebrities.
The legendary Crystle Gayle will appear at American Music Theatre Saturday. Marriage and career are
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Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley, for instance, only lasted three-and-a-half months; Dennis Rodman and Carmen Elektra split after nine days, and then of course there was Rudolph Valentino's famous six-hour marriage to actress Jean Acker in 1919.
For country singer Crystal Gayle, however, marriage has meant something more permanent — in fact, she likes to joke that she and her husband, Bill Gatzimos, "got married when we were ten.
"Marriage is about give-and-take, especially in this business," said Gayle, speaking in a recent interview from Nashville, Tenn.
A Grammy-winning songstress perhaps best remembered for her 1977 hit "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," Gayle will appear at American Music Theatre in Lancaster on Sept. 20.
She will be performing alongside country singer (and former "Hee Haw" star) Roy Clark and "Cherokee Cowboy" Ray Price, who was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996.
"I married my high school sweetheart, we had two kids and I just had my first grandchild. The secret to it, I think, is that we learned how to have quality time, because with touring, we couldn't have quantity," Gayle said. "Though he always does try and come with me when I'm on the road."
The secret to staying married for 37 years, she said, is that "you have to work at it.
"I mean, yes, there are some days where you really want to just let each other have it," Gayle said, "but you always have to have respect for the other person."
Her Old Kentucky HomeThe younger sister of country legend Loretta Lynn, Gayle (born Brenda Gail Webb) spent part of her childhood in the tiny, east Kentucky coal-mining community of Butcher Holler before her parents' work situation forced the family to move.
"We used to joke that it was called Butcher Holler because you could go outside and holler and everybody in the town could hear," Gayle said.
"My dad worked in the mines, but when I was just a kid the mines started closing. My dad tried to find work but it turned out that the one who finally got a job was my mom, who had a mail-order nursing degree and got hired by a hospital in Wabash, Indiana," a town almost 400 miles away.
Though Gayle spent much of her formative years in Wabash, it was while she was just barely a teenager that her older sister, Loretta Lynn, won a talent contest and got signed to Zero Records who released her hit song, "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" which eventually climbed to Number 14 on the Billboard charts.
"We've always been a musical family. Back in Kentucky, we didn't have 'YouTube'; we had to find ways to make our own fun," she said.
Inspired by her sister's success, Gayle began learning the guitar and started performing folk songs in her high school; eventually Lynn started bringing her younger sister out on tour with her, appearances which led to Gayle getting signed to Decca Records.
Decca, however, had already signed 1950's chart-topper Brenda Lee (nicknamed "Little Miss Dynamite" and perhaps best known today for her holiday tune "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree") and so the label asked that Gayle change her name to avoid confusion. Reportedly she settled on retaining her middle name and taking her new first name from the "Krystal" hamburger chain.
Crystal Gayle released her debut single — "I've Cried the Blues Right Out Of My Eyes" — in 1970, a song which debuted at number 23 on Billboard's Top Country Singles chart.
Giving BackAfter a stormy four-year relationship with Decca in which she fought with record executives who kept trying to mold her into her sister's image, Gayle eventually signed with United Artists in 1974, who then teamed her with producer Alan Reynolds.
Working with Reynolds, Gayle was able to crack the Billboard Top Ten Country chart with a string of hits, including "Wrong Road Again", "I'll Get Over You" and "I'll Do It All Over Again".
It was in 1977 however, that she scored the biggest hit of her career, the jazzy ballad "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" which became a worldwide hit single, peaked at No. 1 on the country chart and No. 2 on the pop chart, and garnered the singer her first Grammy.
Singing the song, she said, will most likely be a feature of her upcoming appearance in Lancaster.
"I don't like to say 'fans,' I like to say 'friends'. We're going to have a party, and we're always grateful when friends stop by to say hello," she said.
"My hope for the concert is to just have fun, play some old songs, and maybe try out some new material."
That material, she said, might end up on her new studio record she plans on recording this fall, perhaps involving her sister, Loretta.
"It's something we've talked about since forever," she said, "and this might be the year we finally do it."
Also, she said, she's busy being involved with work for various children's charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and even plans on making a visit back to eastern Kentucky this fall to perform in her hometown's Apple Day Festival.
She's also busy trying to raise awareness and funding for Haitians affected by Hurricane Hanna, a storm which killed more than 500 and whose nearly seven-foot floodwaters have cut off the northern city of Gonaives, the country's third-largest city, sending more than 48,000 fleeing into the surrounding mountains.
"I'm just so struck by the poverty. It's so sad; they need help in Haiti right now to recover from the storm, and it seems like the international community is busy spending money on other things," she said. "I guess for me, charities are near and dear to my heart, and I want to do all I can just to persuade people to give, because even a little bit helps."
"It's important to give back what you've received."
Crystal Gayle, along with Ray Price and Roy Clark, will appear at American Music Theatre at 2 p.m., and again at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20. For more information call 397-7700 or visit www.americanmusictheatre.com.
