ENTERTAINMENT

Crystal Gayle inducted into Grand Ole Opry by Loretta Lynn

Lizzy Alfs
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Award-winning country music artist Crystal Gayle was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry Saturday, 50 years after she first performed on the Ryman stage.

Sisters Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle as Gayle was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.

Gayle was inducted into the Opry by her sister, country music legend Loretta Lynn, after Carrie Underwood surprised Gayle in November with an invite to join the Opry. Underwood asked Gayle if she would “like to join the Opry family officially” after the duo performed Gayle’s classic “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.”

“We’ve been together a long time, honey. And we’ve never had a fight,” Lynn said on Saturday night. “It was the greatest moment of my life when they made me a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1962. I know she is just as happy as I was then.”

Gayle first made her Opry debut when she was 16-years-old, performing “Ribbon of Darkness” on the Ryman stage.

“Being a member of the Opry is just incredible,” Gayle said. “It’s really hard to comprehend. I have felt like a part of the Opry for all these years. Now, I’m official.”

Gayle’s had 20 No. 1 country hits and was the first female artist in country music history to reach platinum sales with her 1977 album “We Must Believe in Magic.”

Reach Lizzy Alfs at 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.