Ronnie Lee Milsap (born January 16, 1943) is an American country music singer and pianist. He was one of country music\'s most popular and influential performers of the 1970s and 1980s. He became one of the most successful and versatile country "crossover" singers of his time, appealing to both country and pop music markets with hit songs that incorporated pop, R&B, and rock and roll elements. His biggest crossover hits include "It Was Almost Like a Song", "Smoky Mountain Rain", "(There\'s) No Gettin\' Over Me", "I Wouldn\'t Have Missed It for the World", "Any Day Now", and "Stranger in My House". He is credited with six Grammy Awards and forty No. 1 country hits, third to George Strait and Conway Twitty. He was selected for induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2014.\n', '

Milsap was born January 16, 1943, in Robbinsville, North Carolina. A congenital disorder left him almost completely blind from birth. Abandoned by his mother as an infant, he was raised in poverty by his grandparents in the Smoky Mountains until the age of five, when he was sent to the Governor Morehead School for the blind in Raleigh, North Carolina.\n', '

Throughout his childhood, Milsap developed a passion for music, particularly the late-night radio broadcasts of country music, gospel music, and rhythm and blues. When he was seven years old, his instructors began to notice his musical talents. Soon afterward Milsap began studying classical music formally at Governor Morehead and learned several instruments, eventually mastering the piano. At age 14, he had very limited vision in his left eye. A slap from one of the school\'s house parents caused him to lose that limited vision. At that point, Milsap lost all interest in anything meaningful in life for several years.\n', '

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