Don Gibson
Donald Eugene " Don " Gibson ( born April 3, 1928 in Shelby, North Carolina, † 17 November 2003) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Among his most famous songs I Can not Stop Loving You, Oh Lonesome Me, Sea of Heartbreak and A Legend in My Time count.
Career
Family
Gibson was born in 1928 as the youngest of the five children of Solon and Mary Magdalene Gamble Gibson in North Carolina. Died in 1930 his father employed with the railroad; the family subsequently moved to the stepfather to his farm. Shy and stammering Don Gibson left after the second class of 1936, the primary school to help the family in agriculture. In his free time he taught himself to play the guitar, how he earned $ 30 a week in pubs. In 1940 he left the farm to earn money with the music.
First appearances
Already in 1942, he was a professional guitarist, 1944, he and Ned Costner (fiddle ) and Howard " Curly" Sisk (guitar), the Sons of the Soil with Gibson as a bass player and singer who were hired in the same year at the local radio station WOHS and a similar style of music as the Sons of the Pioneers were wont. There, they were also known as Hi- Lighters on which a complete change of personnel with Billy Roberts ( trumpet), Doc Whitmire (accordion), Howard Sisk (guitar / vocals), Jim Barber (fiddle ) and founder Milton Scarborough (accordion / vocals) underwent. A first recording was organized by music producer Murray Nash at the radio station WBBO in Forrest City, North Carolina, in October 1948 for Mercury Records. From this Jim Barber (fiddle / vocals) and Milton Scarborough emerged in the cast Howard Sisk (guitar / vocals), (accordion / vocals) with Don as a singer and bassist singles Cloudy Skies ( February 1949 ) and Automatic Mama ( April 1949 ) the no hit parade brought in resonance. Gibson's first composition was in October 1948 Why am I so Lonely, which was taken out in the session and should be a benchmark for subsequent text content.
Frequent change of record companies and band members were now on the agenda. Gibson's new band was called from 1950 Don Gibson & His King Cotton Kinfolks who auditioned for Steve Sholes of RCA Records. On October 17, 1950, she stood before the microphones of the radio station WSOC in Charlotte, North Carolina, under production directed by Steve Sholes, who also oversaw the first to be held in Nashville recording session on 10 October 1951. First mention it was in the magazine Billboard in January 1951, when there the single I Love No One But You / Carolina Breakdown ( B- side was an instrumental recording) was introduced in the country division for RCA, but also could not place. With this band he joined in 1952, the data transmitted from the radio station WNOX Country broadcast Tennessee Barn Dance, which WNOX became aware of him. In August 1952 Gibson switched from RCA to Columbia Records. In 1953 he hired the Bluegrass Fiddler Kenneth Clayton "Kenny" Baker ( born June 26, 1926 † July 8, 2011 ) for the performances at the Tennessee Barn Dance on, to which he belonged for many years. Shortly after his last band broke up, so for studio recording session musician now were recruited.
The density of the recording dates was still relatively low, because they found for Gibson instead of only on an annual basis. When he his self-composed ballad Sweet Dreams for MGM Records recorded on 12 September 1955 the largest country music publisher Acuff Rose Music Publishing became aware of him. Co-owner Wesley Rose hired him as a composer. With a ninth place in the country charts, it was the first and only hit parade yield successful was covered by Faron Young ( second place ) for Don Gibson. Patsy Cline Sweet Dreams took on shortly before her death and took the title in May 1963 to fifth place in the charts. A variety of other performers took up this title, including Reba McEntire (February 7, 1979 # 19). This Gibson arrived in Nashville, the increasingly established itself as the center of American country music.
Success years
Also, RCA had recognized this trend and opened equipped with the latest technology Studio Studio B in Nashville early in 1957. On February 25, 1957, the virtuoso guitarist Chet Atkins Country headed for the first time Gibson's recording session after it had returned after five - year absence to RCA. In early 1957, Atkins had taken over the studio management in Nashville by Steve Sholes, who had to largely focus on the production work with Elvis Presley; Atkins remained Gibson's producer until 1964. On 3 December 1957, the Gibson - Oh Lonesome Me compositions and I Can not Stop Loving You were played, changed the date for over 10 years relatively unsuccessful country singer the situation. Gibson was now one of the first who benefited from the Nashville sound, because both titles already met the requirements of this musical style. Chet Atkins had this removed the Fiddles and weakened the steel guitar. These were two of the early country hits that could penetrate a crossover into the pop charts.
Ole Lonesome Me was actually the original title, but it was Oh Lonesome Me as retarded uncorrected write errors a secretary in the studio. Following the publication in December 1957 Oh Lonesome Me place went to one of the country charts for 8 weeks and seventh of the pop charts. Now the market had clearly perceived Gibson's talents. Good records sold and good rankings in the country hit parade were then the top hit Blue Blue Day (26 June 1957; topped ), Give Myself a Party (recorded on February 27, 1958, fifth ) and Look Who's Blue from the same session ( eighth ), Who Cares (September 26, 1958, third place ), Do not Tell Me Your Troubles (16 March 1959 fifth ) or Just One Time (3 January 1960; Rank 2). One of his biggest hits, Sea of Heartbreak (April 5, 1961 second place ), did not come from his pen, but by Hal David and Paul Hampton, however, sounded lyrically significantly after Gibson's melancholy notation.
In November 1959, he was voted the best songwriter of country music for 1959 and referred the successful authors Boudleaux and Felice Bryant to second place. The longest Gibson was the record label RCA faithful, that is, from March 1957 to September 1970, when he moved to Hickory Records, which was owned by the music publisher Acuff - Rose. Here he brought from August 1971 a number of duets with Sue Thompson until April 1975 out. However, as a soloist, he succeeded his last number -one hit, Woman ( Sensuous Woman) (April 11, 1972 # 1), written by Gary S. Paxton. Alcohol and drug threw him back in 1980, until 1984, he entered a recording studio again. On October 22, 1985, he made his last recordings, namely in the studio of his co-discoverer Chet Atkins; Hits no longer afforded the session. After he retired from the music business.
Since 2000 he has been artificially fed through a feeding tube; his fourth wife Barbara " Bobbi" Patterson Gibson, whom he married on June 4, 1967 nursed him. Don Gibson died in 2003 at the hospital and is buried in the Sunset Cemetery his hometown of Shelby.
Statistics, cover versions and Awards
Don Gibson has written 201 songs, according to BMI; for 15 he received a BMI Award. Alone his composition I Can not Stop Loving You appeared in at least 700 cover versions, the most successful was the million seller by Ray Charles. Roy Orbison recorded an entire album with Gibson songs, which was released in November 1966 under the title Roy Orbison Sings Don Gibson. With Too Soon to Know (1 June 1966) had Orbison a pop hit in the United Kingdom (Rank 3). Ronnie Milsap made from Gibson ( I'd Be ) A Legend In My Time ( November 1974) a top hit in the country charts.
Overall, Gibson was able to place 82 items in the country charts, of which 65 are in the top 40. Of his country hits came 1958-1961 a total of 14 in the pop charts. When Elvis Presley random in RCA Studio the typical two-finger style guitar Gibson Chet Atkins heard and asked who it was, he replied: "That's Don Gibson ". 1958 Gibson made her first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, 1973, he was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001 in the Country Music Hall of Fame.