1979–1984: Breakthrough and pop crossover To distinguish her from RCA's
Deborah Allen, Kirby (whose married name at the time was "Sylvia Allen") was billed only under first name, "Sylvia". Her first RCA single was released in 1979 called "
You Don't Miss a Thing", a top 40 US
country chart song that year. A second single, "
It Don't Hurt to Dream" (1980), also made the US country top 40. Despite never performing before a live audience, In late 1980, "
Tumbleweed" was her first single to make the US country top ten. It was followed by Sylvia's first US number one single, "
Drifter", Sylvia had two more US-Canadian top ten country hits in 1981: "
The Matador" and "
Heart on the Mend". The album incorporated a
western theme that was described as "airy" by critics while also being self-described by Sylvia as "prairie music". RCA then promoted the LP with appearances on
Johnny Cash's television special,
Hee Haw and
The Mike Douglas Show. Sylvia's sound moved further towards
pop and
country pop with her second album in 1982 titled
Just Sylvia. number five on the Canadian
Top Singles chart and number two on New Zealand's
Recorded Music chart. "Nobody" then received a gold certification from the
Recording Industry Association of America, making Sylvia the only country artist to receive one in 1982. Its success also pushed
Just Sylvia towards a gold certification as well. Sales of "Nobody" kept
Just Sylvia on the US charts through 1983, eventually peaking at number two on the US country albums chart With "Nobody's" success, Sylvia started touring more than 250 dates annually, She also made appearances on television shows like
American Bandstand and
Solid Gold. She also received nominations from the
Grammy Awards and
Academy of Country Music Awards. Critics compared the album's sound and material to that of
Just Sylvia while also highlighting its use of crossover production styles.
Snapshot became Sylvia's third top ten album on the US country chart With a new hairstyle on the front cover came the release of her 1984 album,
Surprise. It received less favorable critical reception for moving further away from country while other critics favored the depth of its song choices. The album itself was less commercially successful, only reaching number 40 on the US country chart, It was also her fifth to make the US country albums chart and peaked at number 19 in 1985. She helped bring 1970s pop artist,
Michael Johnson, to the attention of country audiences with their duet of "
I Love You by Heart" (his first country album was released in response to their duet). Their collaborative recording reached the US and Canadian country top ten in 1985. A compilation album of Sylvia's
Greatest Hits was released by RCA in 1987 that featured two new recordings ("Never My Love" and "Straight from My Heart") along with seven of her hits. Of its new cuts, "Straight from the Heart", was issued as a single, which
Billboard named it one of its "recommended" picks. The song only reached number 63 on the US country chart In the late 1980s, Sylvia decided to stop touring and recording after years of constant work. Between 1988 and 1989, she hosted her own television cooking program on
The Nashville Network (TNN) titled
Holiday Gourmet, She also was a consistent guest-host of another TNN program between 1988 and 1989 titled
Crook & Chase. The same year, she issued an album of
Christmas music titled
A Cradle in Bethlehem Although Sylvia had released three albums on her own label, it was challenging for her recordings to gain a wider audience. Inspired by a passion for psychology she took a new direction and became a
life and career coach, She also explained that coaching is about non-judgmentally guiding people through their personal or professional transitions while also being present in the current moment. Sylvia then took a 14-year hiatus from recording new music. The project's 12 song-collection focused on themes of family and overcoming obstacles. She followed it in 2018 with,
Second Bloom: The Hits Re-Imagined, an album of her
re-recorded 1980s hits reworked to fit contemporary styles. It received critical acclaim for keeping the foundations of the songs the same while also modernizing their musical style. In 2022, she issued ''Nature Child: A Dreamer's Journey'', a project of
children's music. The album was inspired by the amount of child fans Sylvia had during her commercial years and was also dedicated to the "
inner child" child within herself. ==Artistry==