Ronnie Lee Milsap (born January 16, 1943 in Robbinsville, North Carolina) is an American Country/Pop singer and musician.[1] He was one of country music's most popular singers in the 1970s and 1980s. He became country music's first blind superstar. He was one of the many crossover country singers at this time, which was also called Countrypolitan or Country Pop. His biggest crossover hits include "(There's) No Gettin' Over Me", "Smoky Mountain Rain", and "Lost in the Fifties Tonight". He is credited with forty number-one songs on the country charts, third only to George Strait and Conway Twitty. Ronnie Milsap was one of Country Music's most influential artists in the 70s and 80s, becoming one of Country's biggest stars, appealing to both Country and Pop markets. Milsap was born with a congenital defect leaving him blind. [2] Milsap lived with his grandparents until the age of six, when he was placed in the State School for the Blind in Raleigh, North Carolina[3] When Milsap was seven, his instructors noticed his musical talents, and he soon began studying classical music formally. Soon, Milsap became interested in rock and roll music and soon formed a Rock band called "The Apparitions." Milsap was awarded a full college scholarship and attended college briefly in Atlanta, Georgia, until he decided to become a full-time musician. In the early 1960s, he got his first professional gig, as a member of J. J. Cale's band.