Crystal Gayle

Songbird Crystal Gayle was honored with the 2,390th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Leron Gubler, President and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce presided over the ceremony. Guests included Tanya Tucker, Wink Martindale, Kate Linder, Jennifer Elise Cox, George Chakiris, and Crystal's sister, recording artist Peggy Sue Wright.

1515 Vine Street on October 2, 2009.

BIOGRAPHY

Crystal Gayle was born Brenda Gail Webb in Paintsville, Kentucky on January 9, 1951. When she was four years old her family moved to Wabash, Indiana. Inspired by sister Loretta Lynn's career, she decided to learn to play the guitar and she sang in her brothers' country bands. Crystal encapsulates everything the dazzling qualities of her name imply — although that name came to her in quite an unusual fashion. "Crystal" was suggested by Brenda Gail Webb's older sister, Loretta Lynn. Knowing there was already a 'Brenda Lee' currently successful in the music industry, Loretta selected the name 'Crystal' for her younger sibling when she began recording.

Country, folk, pop, rock 'n roll, Broadway show tunes, gospel…all found an equal place in her heart when growing up as the youngest of eight children. As her beloved sister Loretta so aptly put it, Crystal, too, was a "coal miner's daughter" before she was a platinum- selling singer and a world-class entertainer.

While still in school, she signed her first recording contract. Her debut single, "I've Cried the Blue Right Out of My Eyes," was written by Loretta and reached the Top 25 on the national country music charts. Three more singles were released over the next three years, all making an impact with radio and listeners.

Her first album project began a roll-out of smash singles to come. "Wrong Road Again," (her first of many hit singles with producer Allen Reynolds) became her debut Top 10 record. "I'll Get Over You" became her first #1 single. By her fourth album, "We Must Believe in Magic," Crystal Gayle became the first female artist in country music history to achieve platinum album sales. Driving the engine of the album was the song that was to become her enduring career signature song: "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue."

"Brown Eyes" opened the world's eyes to Crystal Gayle. She became a familiar name in households, grand and small, from Louisville to Leningrad. The glamour and the mystique of the Crystal Gayle phenomena made her an instantly "in-demand" artist. From symphony halls to Carnegie Hall, from the best-kept stages in Las Vegas to the prestige of the London Palladium, one word — "Crystal" — crossed musical genres and oceans.

In the late '70s, Crystal was the star of her own one hour prime-time specials on CBS television — specials that earned the praise of audiences and critics alike. Crystal's CBS specials were followed by an equally groundbreaking HBO concert special viewed by millions. The ensuing years saw Crystal host a Christmas special from Sweden, and a variety special taped in Finland. Chic, hip and cool, with a romantic mane of hair, Crystal's television specials and myriad guest-appearances on specials and talk shows solidified her stardom. She appeared in Bob Hope's historic NBC-TV Special "On the Road to China." She was seen hosting the "American Music Awards" and the "Academy Of Country Music Awards." She swept through tours — and repeat tours — of the U.S. Japan, England, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Australia and the Far East.

Her hit list of platinum and gold was to be matched only by her awards and accolades. CMA's "Female Vocalist of the Year," for two consecutive years, she became a Grammy Award Winner for "Best Female Vocal Performance," thanks to her beloved "Brown Eyes" – a song that she has never grown tired of singing. Crystal swept the Academy Of Country Music Awards for three of their "Top Female Vocalist" statuettes. As her music and her career path widened to mainstream audiences, so did her accolades. She is the recipient of three "American Music Awards," voted by the nation as America's "Favorite Female Artist."

Crystal's most recent projects, "Crystal Gayle Sings The Heart & Soul of Hoagy Carmichael" and "All My Tomorrows," allow Crystal to explore collections of American standards. Songs such as "Stardust," "Skylark," "Cry Me a River," "Sentimental Journey," "It Had to Be You" and "Smile" reach the heights their songwriters' must have dreamed of when piped through the beautiful chords of Crystal Gayle.

Generous with her time and talents, Crystal has become involved with many charities. She garnered the initial "Celebration of Light Award" in recognition of her humanitarian efforts. Crystal recorded the official theme song for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and served thrice as co-host for the Arthritis telethon. Fittingly, the "Celebration of Light Award" was Waterford Crystal.

Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Cuba M. Gooding, Jr. is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal of Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe’s 1996 film Jerry Maguire, and his critically acclaimed performance as Tré Styles in John Singleton’s 1991 film Boyz n the Hood.

Cuba Gooding, the son of Shirley, a singer with the Sweethearts, and Cuba Gooding, Sr., a lead vocalist of soul group The Main Ingredient. He has two brothers, musician Tommy Gooding and fellow actor Omar Gooding, and sister, April Gooding. His family moved to Los Angeles after Gooding, Sr.’s music group had a hit single with “Everybody Plays the Fool” in 1972; the elder Gooding abandoned his family two years later. During his appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Gooding revealed that after his father had left, his family lived in hotels throughout Los Angeles. Gooding was raised by his mother and attended four different high schools: North Hollywood High School, Tustin High School, Apple Valley High School, and John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills in Los Angeles. He served as class president in three of them. He became a born-again Christian at age 13.

His first job as a professional entertainer was as a breakdancer performing with singer Lionel Richie at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. After high school, Gooding studied Japanese martial arts for three years, before turning his focus toward acting. Early on, he landed guest starring roles on shows like Hill Street Blues and MacGyver. His first major role was in the John Singleton’s box office surprise and critical hit Boyz n the Hood. He followed this success with roles in major films like A Few Good Men, Lightning Jack, Outbreak, Men of Honor, Rat Race, and The Fighting Temptations in which he co-starred alongside Beyoncé Knowles who portrays his girlfriend, and later wife in the film. That particular film also marked his first in a musical film.

In 1996, he was cast as an arrogant football player on the brink of a career-ending injury in Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire. The film was a success and earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. His “Show Me The Money” line in the film became a nationwide catchphrase. In 1997, he had a notable supporting role in As Good As It Gets. The next several years, his films were inconsistently successful. He has also appeared in a series of films which were not as critically or commercially successful, such as Boat Trip, Norbit, and Daddy Day Camp, all of which had received extremely negative reviews and, with the exception of Norbit, all of which performed poorly at the box office. Gooding also starred in a film titled “a Murder of Crows” which he co-produced with his long time friend and business partner Derek Broes. The film was Gooding’s first attempt at producing.

Clyde McCoy

Clyde McCoy, a famous jazz trumpet player, is best remembered for his theme song, Sugar Blues, and popularity spanning seven decades. The song hit in 1931 and 1935, in Columbia and Decca versions, and returned to Billboard Magazine's Country chart in 1941. Johnny Mercer had a vocal hit in 1947.

Introduced in 1967, the Vox Clyde McCoy Wah-wah pedal was the most significant guitar effect of its time. Inspired by McCoy's signature "wah-wah" sound with a trumpet mute that he developed in the late 1920s, the Wah-wah pedal was innvented by a young engineer named Brad Plunkett, who worked for the Thomas Organ Company ? Vox/JMI?s U.S. counterpart ? the wah circuit basically sprang from the 3-position midrange voicing function used on the Vox Super Beatle amplifier.

Vox cleverly packaged the circuit into an enclosure with a rocker pedal attached to the pot and named the new device after trumpeter Clyde McCoy. Early versions of the Clyde McCoy pedal featured an image of McCoy on the bottom panel, which soon gave way to his signature only before the name of the pedal was changed to Cry Baby. Thomas Organ?s failure to trademark the Cry Baby name soon led to the market being flooded with Cry Baby imitations from various parts of the world, including Italy, where the McCoys were originally made.

Cole Porter

Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. His works include the musical comedies Kiss Me, Kate, Fifty Million Frenchmen, DuBarry Was a Lady and Anything Goes, as well as songs like "Night and Day", "I Get a Kick out of You", "Well, Did You Evah!" and "I've Got You Under My Skin". He was noted for his sophisticated, bawdy lyrics, clever rhymes and complex forms. Porter was one of the greatest contributors to the Great American Songbook. Cole Porter is one of the few Tin Pan Alley composers to have written both the lyrics and the music for his songs.

Porter was born in Peru, Indiana, the only child of a wealthy Baptist family. His father, Samuel Fenwick Porter, was a druggist by trade; his mother, Kate, was the indulged daughter of James Omar "J.O." Cole, "the richest man in Indiana", a coal and timber speculator who dominated the family. Kate started Porter in musical training at an early age. He learned the violin at age six, the piano at eight, and he wrote his first operetta at 10. She falsified his recorded birth year from 1891 to 1893 to make him appear more precocious. His father, who was a shy and unassertive man, played a lesser role in Porter?s upbringing, although as an amateur poet he may have influenced his son?s gifts for rhyme and meter.

J.O. Cole wanted his grandson to become a lawyer, and with that career in mind sent him to Worcester Academy in 1905. He became class valedictorian, and was rewarded by his grandfather with a tour of France, Switzerland and Germany. After this he attended Yale University beginning in 1909, where he was a member of Scroll and Key and Delta Kappa Epsilon and sang both in the Yale Glee Club, of which he was elected president his senior year, and in the original line-up of the Whiffenpoofs. While at Yale, he wrote a number of student songs, including the football fight songs "Bulldog Bulldog" and "Bingo Eli Yale" that are still played at Yale today. Porter wrote 300 songs while at Yale. After graduating from Yale, Porter studied at Harvard Law School in 1913. He soon felt that he was not destined to be a lawyer, and, at the suggestion of the dean of the law school, Porter switched to Harvard's music faculty, where he studied harmony and counterpoint with Pietro Yon. Kate Porter did not object to this move, but it was kept secret from J. O. Cole.

In 1915, Porter's first song on Broadway, "Esmeralda", appeared in the revue Hands Up. The quick success was immediately followed by failure: his first Broadway production, in 1916, See America First, a "patriotic comic opera" modeled on Gilbert and Sullivan, with a book by T. Lawrason Riggs, was a flop, closing after two weeks.

Colleen Moore

Colleen Moore was an American film actress, and one of the most fashionable stars of the silent film era.

Born Kathleen Morrison on August 19, 1899 in Port Huron, Michigan, Miss Moore was the eldest child of Charles R. and Agnes Morrison. The family remained in Port Huron during the early years of Moore’s life, at first living with her grandmother Mary Kelly and then with at least one of Moore’s aunts.

By 1905 the family had moved to Hillsdale, Michigan where they remained for over two years. They had relocated to Atlanta, Georgia by 1908. They are listed at three different addresses during their stay in Atlanta : 301 Capitol Avenue ?1908; 41 Linden Avenue ? 1909; 240 N. Jackson Street ? 1910. They then lived briefly?probably less than a year?in Warren, Pennsylvania, and by 1911 they had settled down in Tampa, Florida.

Two great passions of young Moore’s were dolls and movies; each would play a great role in her later life. She and her brother began their own stock company, reputedly performing on a stage created from a piano packing crate. She admired the faces she saw on the silver screen and on magazine covers. She had resolved at a young age that she would be not only an actress, but a star. Her aunts, who doted on her, indulged her other great passion and often bought her miniature furniture on their many trips, with which she furnished the first of a succession of doll houses.

Connie Stevens

Connie Stevens is an American actress and singer, best known for her role in the television series Hawaiian Eye and Maverick.

She was born Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingoglia in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Peter Ingoglia and singer Eleanor McGinley.

She adopted her father’s stage name of Stevens as her own. Her parents were divorced and she lived with grandparents. At age eight, she started attending Catholic boarding schools. Actor John Megna was her half-brother. At the age of twelve, she witnessed a murder in Brooklyn and was sent to live in Boonville, Missouri, with family friends.

Coming from a musical family, she formed a singing group called The Foremost, in which the other three vocalists — all males — went on to fame as The Lettermen. In 1953, Stevens moved to Los Angeles with her father. When she was 16, she replaced the alto in a singing group, The Three Debs. She enrolled at a professional school, sang professionally and appeared in local repertory theater.

Conrad Hall

Conrad Lafcadio Hall, ASC was an American cinematographer from Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he was best known for photographing films, such as Morituri, The Professionals, In Cold Blood, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Day of the Locust, Tequila Sunrise, Searching for Bobby Fischer, A Civil Action, American Beauty and Road to Perdition, which gained him several awards, including three Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards. Sam Mendes, the director of Road to Perdition, dedicated the film to Hall.

Born in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Hall was the son of writer James Norman Hall and Sarah Winchester Hall, who was part-Polynesian. Hall attended the University of Southern California, intending to study journalism, but drifted instead to the university’s cinema school, from which he graduated in 1949. He worked on documentaries, in television and minor films, and as a studio camera operator before moving up to cinematographer in major studio films in the mid-1960s.

Hall received three Academy Awards for Best Cinematography for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty, and Road to Perdition. The thirty-year gap between his first two Oscars is a record for this award.

Additionally, Hall was nominated for Morituri, The Professionals, In Cold Blood, The Day of the Locust, Tequila Sunrise, Searching for Bobby Fischer, and A Civil Action. Other credits include Divorce American Style, Cool Hand Luke, Marathon Man and Love Affair .

Conrad Nagel

Conrad Nagel was an American screen actor and matinee idol of the silent film era and beyond. He was also a well-known television actor and radio performer.

Born in Keokuk, Iowa, into an upper-middle-class family, he was the son of a musician father, Frank, and a mother, Frances, who was a locally praised singer. Nagel?s mother died early in his life, and he always attributed his artistic inclination to growing up in a family environment that encouraged self-expression. His father, Frank, became dean of the music conservatory at Highland Park College and when Nagel was three, the family moved to Des Moines.

After graduating from Highland Park College at Des Moines, Iowa, Nagel left for California to pursue a career in the relatively new medium of motion pictures where he garnered instant attention from the Hollywood studio executives. With his frame, blue eyes, and wavy blond hair; the young, Midwestern Nagel was seen by studio executives as a potentially wholesome matinee idol whose unpretentious all-American charm would surely appeal to the nation’s nascent film-goers.

Nagel was immediately cast in film roles that cemented his unspoiled lover image. His first film was the 1918 retelling of the Louisa May Alcott classic, Little Women, which quickly captured the public?s attention and set Nagel on a path to silent film stardom. His breakout role came in the 1920 film, The Fighting Chance, opposite Swedish starlet Anna Q. Nilsson.

Constance Bennett

Constance Campbell Bennett was an American actress.

She was born in New York City, the daughter of actor Richard Bennett and actress Adrienne Morrison, whose father was the stage actor Lewis Morrison. Her younger sisters were actress/dancer Barbara Bennett and actress Joan Bennett.

She started off with a spell in a convent but decided to go into the family business. Independent, cultured, ironic and outspoken, Constance, the first Bennett sister to enter motion pictures, appeared in New York-produced silent movies before a meeting with Samuel Goldwyn led to her Hollywood debut in Cytherea. She abandoned a burgeoning career in silents for marriage to Philip Plant in 1925; She resumed her film career after divorce, with the advent of talking pictures, and with her delicate blonde features and glamorous fashion style, quickly became a popular film star.

Constance Binney

Constance Binney was an American stage and film actress and dancer.

Born in New York City, Constance Binney was educated at Westover School, a private college preparatory boarding school for girls in Middlebury, Connecticut and in Paris, France. She made her Broadway theatre debut in 1917 and the following year appeared with her actress sister, Faire Binney, in the Maurice Tourneur silent film, Sporting Life based on the play by Cecil Raleigh and Seymour Hicks. In 1919, she starred opposite John Barrymore in The Test of Honor.

Although Constance Binney left the film business in 1923, her contribution to the industry was recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6301 Hollywood Blvd.

Constance Binney last performed on Broadway in 1924. She appeared on stage in London and in 1941 married the British war hero, Leonard Cheshire. However, this marriage was short-lived.