‘'Don’t Close Your Eyes’' came out as a single two months before the album of the same title, and it became Keith Whitley’s first No. 1 hit, and, eventually, was deemed Billboard’s country single of the year. And it wasn’t the last hit he would have — the album ushered in rave reviews, nonstop radio play and a line of subsequent No. 1s in its wake. The next single, ‘’When You Say Nothing at All,'' catapulted him even further. He spent the rest of 1988 and the first few months of 1989 touring under his newfound mega stardom, but the demands of fame refused to let up. Despite finding his sobriety not long before the release of Don’t Close Your Eyes, the pull of the disease was too strong. On May 6, Whitley played his final show at the Armadillo Ballroom in Brazoria, Texas. Three da...