Carl Robert Belew (April 21, 1931 – October 31, 1990) was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer and songwriter. Belew recorded for

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

, and

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gen ...

in the 1950s through 1970s, charting 11 times on

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

. He also wrote singles for

Johnnie & Jack Johnnie & Jack were an American country music duo, composed of Johnnie Wright (1914–2011) and Jack Anglin (1916–1963). The duo became members of the Grand Ole Opry in the 1940s. Between 1951 and 1962, the duo released several singles on the ...

Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the ''Billboard'' cou ...

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentlem ...

, and others.

Career

Born in

Salina, Oklahoma Salina ( ) is a town in Mayes County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,396 at the 2010 census, a slight decline from the figure of 1,422 recorded in 2000. History For thousands of years indigenous peoples had lived along the rivers ...

, Belew's musical career began in the 1950s when he performed on the

Louisiana Hayride ''Louisiana Hayride'' was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the ...

. He signed to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

by the end of the decade, reaching number 9 on the country music charts with "

Am I That Easy to Forget "Am I That Easy to Forget" is a popular song written by country music singer Carl Belew and W.S. Stevenson and published in 1958. Belew recorded his song in Nashville on December 17, 1958, and released the single in March 1959, when it reached ...

", which was later recorded by

Skeeter Davis Skeeter Davis (born Mary Frances Penick; December 30, 1931September 19, 2004) was an American country music singer and songwriter who sang crossover pop music songs including 1962's " The End of the World". She started out as part of the Davis S ...

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...

Esther Phillips Esther Phillips (born Esther Mae Jones; December 23, 1935 – August 7, 1984) was an American singer, best known for her R&B vocals.Santelli, Robert (2001). ''The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia''. Penguin Books. p. 376. . She ...

, Engelbert Humperdinck,

, and others. Also in this period,

recorded Belew's "Stop the World and Let Me Off", while

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

recorded " Lonely Street". Belew's only other chart entry for Decca was the Number 19 "Too Much to Lose", followed by the Number 8 "Hello Out There", his first

release, in 1962. He continued to write songs for others, including "

What's He Doing in My World "What's He Doing in My World" is a 1965 single by Eddy Arnold. The single was Arnold's twentieth number one on the U.S. country chart, and his first number one in ten years. "What's He Doing in My World" stayed at number one for two weeks and sp ...

" by

and "That's When I See the Blues" by

; both

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

and

Susan Raye Susan Raye (born October 8, 1944) is an American country music singer. She enjoyed great popularity during the early and mid-1970s, and chalked up seven top-10 and 19 top-40 country hits, most notably the song "L.A. International Airport", an i ...

charted in the 1970s with covers of "Stop the World and Let Me Off". Belew died of cancer on October 31, 1990, in Salina, Oklahoma.

Discography

Albums

*''Carl Belew'' (1960) *''Hello Out There'' (1964) *''Am I That Easy to Forget'' (1965) *''Another Lonely Night'' (1965) *''Country Songs'' (1966) *''Lonely Street'' (1967) *''Twelve Shades of Belew'' (1968) *''When My Baby Sings His Song'' (1972)

Singles

*^APeaked at 20 on

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belew, Carl 1931 births 1990 deaths American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters Deaths from cancer in Oklahoma Decca Records artists People from Salina, Oklahoma RCA Records artists 20th-century American singers Country musicians from Oklahoma 20th-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma