Don Gibson - Biography
By J Poet
Don Gibson was one of the most successful songwriters in the history of country music. His most famous song, “I Can't Stop Loving You” was a monster hit for Ray Charles in 1962 and has been recorded by more than 700 artists, selling an estimated 30 million copies worldwide. Gibson was one of the first country singers to have major pop crossover success. With producer Chet Atkins, he injected a bit of low key rock’n’roll into his records and between 1958 and 1961 he had 11 Top 10 country singles like “Oh Lonesome Me,” “Blue Blue Day, “Don't Tell Me Your Troubles,” “Sea of Heartbreak” and “Lonesome Number One,” many of them crossing over to pop. In the late 60s he struggled with drugs and alcohol, which sank his career. Clean and sober he reemerged in the early 70s and charted a few more hits, but he never recaptured the popularity of his earlier tunes. Still, he wrote almost 200 songs that are regularly covered by pop and country artists. He stopped making albums in the late 80s, but he continued touring until his death in 2003.
Gibson was born in Shelby, North Carolina. He grew up dirt poor and left school in the second grade to work and help support his family. He always loved music and taught himself to play guitar. He also learned how to read on his own. Eventually, he went back to high school, playing nights with his first band The Sons of the Soil. They landed a regular gig on Shelby radio station WOHS in 1949 and made an unsuccessful single for Mercury “Automatic Mama.” In 1952 he was making singles for Columbia, with a honky tonk band called Don Gibson & His King Cotton Kinfolks but again, nothing clicked. Moving to MGM, Gibson cut “Sweet Dreams,” his first hit and later a smash for Patsy Cline and Faron Young as well as Emmylou Harris and Reba McEntire. Wesley Rose, of the powerful publishing company Acuff-Rose, offered Gibson a publishing contract. RCA scooped up Gibson after “Sweet Dreams” and paired him with producer Chet Atkins and together the developed Gibson’s country/pop/rock sound. From 1958 to 1961 they turned out a steady stream of classic singles and albums. Oh Lonesome Me (1958 RCA) included the title track, “Blue Blue Day” and “I Can't Stop Loving You, ” That Gibson Boy (1959 RCA) which showed off Gibson’s mellow style on a collection of country classics, Sweet Dreams (1960 RCA) which includes another classic Gibson tearjerker “I’d Be a Legend in My Time,” and I Wrote a Song (1963 RCA) a veritable greatest hits album which includes almost all of his standards. He also cut albums that featured him singing the songs of other writers, which is odd considering the strengths of his own tunes.
In the 1970s, after getting over the drug and alcohol problems that slowed his career, Gibson signed with Hickory Records and continued recording. The hits weren’t as big, but his sad, wrenching tenor still broke your heart with its implied sadness, and his songwriting remained strong. He also had a good ear for potential hits from other writers.
Gibson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.