Cristy Lane

Cristy Lane (born Eleanor Johnston; January 8, 1940) is an American Christian and country music singer. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she had a series of hits on the North American country charts with songs like "Let Me Down Easy", "I Just Can't Stay Married to You" and the number one hit "One Day at a Time". The latter recording inspired a book of the same name, which was sold on cable television and brought renewed interest to Lane's career. Lane was raised in Peoria, Illinois and married Lee Stoller at age 19. She raised three children while Stoller worked a sales job in the Peoria area. One day, Stoller overheard his wife singing at home and got the idea that she could become a successful country music vocalist. Stoller soon became her full-time manager and by 1966 she released her first single on a small independent record label. Lane recorded for a series of small labels during the decade with no success. In 1969, Lane and Stoller traveled the far east where she performed over 100 shows for American soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. Traumatized by the experience, Lane considered ending her career but ultimately decided to continue. The family moved to Nashville, Tennessee in the early 1970s to restart Lane's country singing career. Facing rejection from every major record company, Stoller decided to form his own label, which he named LS Records. The company began releasing Cristy Lane singles in the mid 1970s. In 1977, she had her first major hit with "Let Me Down Easy". It was followed by a series of top ten hits over the next several years. In 1979, Lane signed with United Artists Records, where she would record "One Day at a Time". The single would become her biggest hit in her career and prompted Lane to record a series of albums tailored to the Christian market in the 1980s. This included LPs such as One Day at a Time (1981) and Footprints in the Sand (1983). In 1982, Stoller went to prison on federal bribery charges. The criminal conviction halted Lane's career, but when he was released, he published her biography also titled One Day at a Time (1983). Marketing the book on cable television in combination with her record albums, One Day at a Time sold over a million copies. Over the next several decades, Lane's biography and recordings were sold over television commercials, the world wide web and through other major distributors. In the 1990s, the couple opened a theater in Branson, Missouri, which ran shows for several years.

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