Crystal Gayle

She is also noted for her trademark long hair, which reaches right down to the floor. While Ben Harney unfortunately was neglected by commercial recording studios during his lifetime, in 1925 a folklorist recorded Harney singing an example of an early ragtime song on a dictaphone phonograph cylinder, and this recording has survived. From October 1987 until March 1996, her duet was the theme song for the serial. Ben Harney died of a heart attack in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1987, she guest-starred on the soap opera Another World and sang a duet with Gary Morris. Harney quit touring after suffering from a heart attack in 1928. Gayle continues to record and perform, but has not achieved the same level of commercial success she enjoyed in the late 1970s. He sometimes performed in blackface.

She continued achieve success on the country charts, with such songs as Why Have You Left The One You Left Me For, and achieved several hits on the pop charts including Talking In Your Sleep, Half The Way and a duet with Eddie Rabbitt, You And I. Harney's act included him playing piano, singing (including scat singing), and dancing. She won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for this single. Once ragtime became popular he started billing himself as The Originator of Ragtime or The Father of Ragtime, which most (but not all) of his contemporaries thought was an overstatement for the sake of advertising. Fuelled by the worldwide hit single Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue, which reached number two on the US pop charts, the album became the first album by a female country and western artist to achieve platinum sales in the US. Harney toured widely on the Vaudeville circuts in the USA, as well as tours of theaters in Europe and Asia. Her fourth album, We Must Believe in Magic (released in 1977) brought her to a wide audience. In 1897 Harney published his book The Ragtime Instructor, the first comprehensive description of ragtime, with instructions of how to rag (add syncopated rhythms to) tunes, including giving written examples of ragged versions of light classics and opera songs.

Born Brenda Gail Webb in Paintsville, Kentucky, Gayle began performing and recording during the early 1970s. That same year Harney was referred to in print as "the rag time pianist". She is also the sister of singer Loretta Lynn. In January of 1896 Ben Harney moved to New York City, where he appeared regularly at Tony Pastor's Music Hall. Crystal Gayle (born January 9, 1951) is an American country and western singer. Harney's tunes "You've Been a Good Old Wagon, But You've Done Broke Down", "Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose", and "Cake Walk In The Sky" were big hits in the mid 1890s. Some historians still debate Harney's ethnic background.

Handy referred to him as "white". Johnson referred to him as a "Negro", while W.C. James P. Harney was light skinned with red hair; early in his career he played with African American theater troops, but later in his career he represented himself as white.

Ben Harney is generally said to have been born in Louisville, Kentucky, although some sources put his birthplaces as Nashville, Tennessee. Benjamin Robertson "Ben" Harney (6 March 1871 - 2 March 1938) was a United States of America songwriter, entertainer, and pioneer of ragtime music. Download recording - "The Wagon" ragtime from the Library of Congress' Gordon Collection (http://www.loc.gov/folklife/Gordon/sideBbandB4.html); performed by Ben Harney in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on about September 9, 1925.