Lena Martell, the Glasgow singer who became the first solo Scottish woman to top the UK singles chart and went on to perform alongside Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr, has died at the age of 86.

Martell is understood to have died peacefully in a care home after a short illness. Tributes were paid across Scotland as fans shared memories of the record that made her a household name: her 1979 version of One Day at a Time.

The ballad, written by Marijohn Wilkin and Kris Kristofferson, reached number one in the UK in October 1979 and stayed in the charts for 36 weeks. It sold millions of copies and secured her a place in pop history as the first Scottish female solo artist to reach the top of the singles chart.

From Hamiltonhill to Broadway

She was born Helen Thomson in Hamiltonhill, in the north of Glasgow, in May 1940. She began singing at the age of 11 in her older brother Allan's band and was performing professionally while still a teenager, signing her first recording contract at 16.

Her stage name had a characteristically Glaswegian origin. 'Lena' was a nickname given to her by her father, while 'Martell' was borrowed from the brandy of the same name.

An early break came on Find the Singer, a 1950s ITV talent show sometimes described as an ancestor of Pop Idol. By 1962 she was appearing in the Five Past Eight Show at Glasgow's Alhambra Theatre, then one of the most prestigious variety stages in the country.

Her talent soon carried her across the Atlantic. On Broadway she understudied Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, and in New York and Las Vegas she shared stages with Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and other giants of the era. Homesickness, by her own account, eventually brought her back to Glasgow.

Saturday night star

The return proved the making of her at home. From 1971 the BBC gave her a prime-time Saturday night series, which ran for around a decade and drew audiences reported at more than 11 million viewers. She sang, chatted with guest stars and became one of the best-known faces in British light entertainment.

Between 1974 and 1980 she placed six albums in the UK Albums Chart, four of them in the top 20, and she was later estimated to have sold close to 20 million records over her career. She also headlined in London's West End and at the Palladium.

Her appearance on Top of the Pops in 1979, singing One Day at a Time in a simple white shirt and knitted tank top, remains one of the enduring images of the period for a generation of Scottish viewers.

Private sorrows

Her life was also marked by loss. Her brother died in a car crash, and in the 1990s she stepped away from the limelight to care for her mother. She was also treated for cancer. She later returned to recording, releasing several albums on the Scottish label ScotDisc.

Fellow Scottish singer Barbara Dickson said she was saddened by the news. 'She had a lovely melodious quality to her voice and I remember my late father admiring her quiet talent,' she said.

On social media, fans recalled hearing the song on family record players and at weddings and funerals, a reminder of how deeply a gentle country ballad had travelled into everyday Scottish life.

A Glasgow voice that carried

Martell belonged to a tradition of Glasgow entertainers who learned their trade in dance halls and variety theatres before television transformed the industry. Few from that world went on to work on Broadway, front their own network series and top the national chart.

Her number one came at a time when the UK charts were dominated by punk, new wave and disco. That a restrained, faith-tinged ballad sung by a Glasgow woman could cut through said much about the loyalty of her audience and the warmth of her voice.

She is remembered in her home city not only for her success abroad but for the fact that she came home, and stayed recognisably herself. For many, One Day at a Time will now be played as both a tribute and a farewell.