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

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer and songwriter. Belew was recorded for Decca, RCA Victor, and MCA 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 along with digital sales and streaming. ...

. He also wrote singles for Johnnie & Jack, Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, and others.

Career

Born in Salina, Oklahoma, Belew began his musical career in the 1950s when he performed on the Louisiana Hayride. He signed to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

by the end of the decade, reaching number 9 on the country music charts with " Am I That Easy to Forget", which was later recorded by Skeeter Davis, Debbie Reynolds, Esther Phillips, Engelbert Humperdinck, Jim Reeves, and others. Also in this period, Johnnie & Jack 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 RCA Victor release, in 1962. He continued to write songs for others, including " What's He Doing in My World" by Eddy Arnold and "That's When I See the Blues" by Jim Reeves; both Waylon Jennings and Susan Raye 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.

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 singer-songwriters Country musicians from Oklahoma 20th-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma