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Lena Martell has died at 86. Her death was reported on 5 October 2026, and the news has brought back one song for a lot of people in Britain and Ireland. In the autumn of 1979, a quiet gospel song called “One Day at a Time” sat at number one in the UK for three weeks.
It was not a love song. It was not a dance song. It was a prayer. And a whole country, most of it not in church on a Sunday, kept buying it.
This is the story of that song, the woman who sang it, and the woman who wrote it on the worst night of her life.
Who Was Lena Martell?
Lena Martell was born Helen Thomson in Glasgow in 1940. She grew up to be one of the big voices of Scottish variety. She recorded around thirty albums. She had her own Saturday night shows on BBC Television for about ten years. She sang in New York and Las Vegas, and she headlined at the London Palladium.
Six of her albums made the UK albums chart between 1974 and 1980. One of them, from 1979, reached number four.
Later in life she had serious heart surgery, in 2008. For a time she stepped back from singing to care for her mother. Then she came back and kept recording. One person who knew her career well, speaking after her death, called her possibly the last of the great singers of Scottish variety.
But for most people, she will always be one song.
Lena Martell’s “One Day at a Time”: The Song That Waited Two Years
Here is the part most people forget. Lena Martell first released “One Day at a Time” in 1977. It did not chart. Nothing happened.
Two years later, the same recording came out again. This time it went all the way. In late October 1979 it knocked “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles off the top spot. It stayed there for three weeks, until Dr. Hook took over in November.
Think about that pairing for a second. A bright new song about machines taking over music was pushed aside by a slow, simple prayer. The record sold well enough to be certified gold.
And the song that did it had already failed once. It got to the top by waiting.
The Woman Who Wrote It Had Almost Given Up
“One Day at a Time” was written by Marijohn Wilkin, an American songwriter from Texas. In Nashville she was known as the “Den Mother of Music Row.” She had already written big country hits. She helped young writers get their start, and one of those young writers was Kris Kristofferson. Her company published some of his early songs.
But by the early 1970s, her own life had fallen apart. In an interview with Songwriter Magazine, she was described as drinking too much and deeply unhappy. She had tried to end her life twice.
She finally went to see a minister. She later said she was his first counselling case, and she was sure she scared him. His advice was very short. In her words: “He told me to think about God.”
That was all. Nothing clever. On the way home, she kept saying thank you. Then the song came, most of it all at once. She said she had no recorder, so she wrote it down on the back of an envelope.
She got stuck on the first line. So she rang her old friend Kris, and he came over and helped her find the opening. That is why his name is on the song. You can read more about how faith shaped Kristofferson’s own life in this look at his story of redemption.
The song won the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for Song of the Year in 1975. More than 200 artists have recorded it since.
What the Song Actually Asks For
The lyrics are still under copyright, so we won’t print them here. But you can say what they are in plain words.
The singer is talking straight to Jesus. She calls Him “sweet Jesus.” She says she is only human and she is weak. And she does not ask for a big fix. She does not ask for next year to be sorted out. She asks for help with today. Just today. That is the whole prayer.
It is a small ask. And maybe that is why so many people could pray it with her, even people who would never call themselves religious.
If you are carrying more than you can hold right now, the free How Anxious Am I? check takes a few minutes and might help you name what is going on.
Why a Whole Country Bought a Prayer
Nobody can know exactly why each person bought that record. But a few things are easy to see.
The late 1970s in Britain were hard years for a lot of families. Work was uncertain. Money was tight. When life feels too big, “fix everything” is not a prayer anyone can believe. “Help me get through today” is.
The song also did not ask you to be good first. It starts from weakness. You don’t have to have your life together to sing it. You only have to be tired.
And it was not just Britain. In Ireland, a version by the singer Gloria spent around 90 weeks in the top 30, which has been reported as the longest run in Irish chart history. In America, Cristy Lane took it to number one on the country chart in 1980. Different countries, different singers, the same small prayer.
If waiting is the hard part of your life right now, you might like why waiting is so hard, and how to carry it.
An Old Idea in a 1970s Song
The title sounds like a modern saying. It is not. Long before Nashville, Jesus sat on a hillside and told a crowd of worried, ordinary people something very close to it: don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.
That is the whole song, really. Marijohn Wilkin did not invent the idea on the back of that envelope. She found it again, at the bottom of her life, after a minister told her to think about God. And then she handed it to millions of people who needed it as much as she did.
Two Women, One Song, Twenty Years Apart
Here is a small detail that is easy to miss. Marijohn Wilkin died in October 2006, at the age of 86. Twenty years later, the news came in October 2026 that Lena Martell had died, also at 86.
One wrote the prayer. One carried it to number one. Neither of them could fix the whole future. Both of them, in their own way, just kept going one day at a time.
Maybe that is the best way to remember Lena Martell this week. Put the song on. Let it be three minutes long. And don’t try to carry next year tonight. Today is enough.
A good place to start: Why Your Mind Won’t Slow Down at Night (Free). A short guide to why your thoughts keep racing when you lie down, and a simple 5-step order that helps them settle. Get the free guide. Free.
Questions People Ask About Lena Martell and “One Day at a Time”
Who was Lena Martell?
Lena Martell was a Scottish singer, born Helen Thomson in Glasgow in 1940. She recorded around thirty albums, hosted BBC Television Saturday night shows for about a decade, and had a UK number one single in 1979 with “One Day at a Time.” Her death at the age of 86 was reported on 5 October 2026.
When was “One Day at a Time” by Lena Martell number one?
Lena Martell’s recording of “One Day at a Time” reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in late October 1979 and stayed there for three weeks, into November 1979. It replaced “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. The same recording had first been released in 1977 and did not chart.
Who wrote the song “One Day at a Time”?
The gospel song “One Day at a Time” was written by Marijohn Wilkin, an American songwriter, with help from Kris Kristofferson, who helped with the opening line. Wilkin wrote it in the early 1970s after a period of deep depression. It won the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for Song of the Year in 1975.
Is “One Day at a Time” a religious song?
Yes. “One Day at a Time” is a prayer addressed to Jesus. The singer admits being weak and asks for help to get through only the present day, not the whole future. The idea of not worrying about tomorrow echoes a well-known teaching of Jesus.
Who else recorded “One Day at a Time”?
More than 200 artists have recorded “One Day at a Time.” Marilyn Sellars made the first recording in 1974. The Irish singer Gloria had a long-running number one in Ireland with it, and Cristy Lane took it to number one on the US country chart in 1980.
Discussion Question
Why do you think a simple prayer song could top the charts in 1979, and could a song like that still reach number one today? Tell us what you think in the comments.
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“Lena Martell’s ‘One Day at a Time’ knocked ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ off number one in 1979. A quiet prayer beat a pop hit. RIP Lena. https://bgodinspired.com/index.php/entertainment/lena-martell-one-day-at-a-time/”
“Didn’t know this: the woman who wrote ‘One Day at a Time’ wrote it after a minister told her to ‘think about God.’ Most of it came at once, on the back of an envelope. Worth a read: https://bgodinspired.com/index.php/entertainment/lena-martell-one-day-at-a-time/”
“The writer and the singer of ‘One Day at a Time’ both died at 86, twenty years apart. Some songs really do get carried one day at a time.”
