January 22, 2010
Carl Smith pases away
Country Music Hall of Fame member Carl Smith, one of the genre's most successful singers and entertainers during the 1950's, died Saturday Jan. 16 at his home in Franklin, Tenn. He was 82.
He was married to June Carter from 1952 until 1957, and their daughter, Carlene Carter, gained prominence as a singer-songwriter during the late '70s. His subsequent marriage to country singer Goldie Hill began in September 1957 and lasted until her death in February 2005. Hill was the mother of his last three children, Lorri Lynn, Carl Jr. and Larry Dean, none of whom sought a career as a performer.
Smith's first No. 1 record, the near-million-selling "Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way," came in 1951. The next year brought Smith big hits with "(When You Feel Like You're in Love) Don't Just Stand There" and a double-sided smash with the Louvin Brothers' "Are You Teasing Me" and Boudleaux Bryant's "It's a Lovely, Lovely World." Bryant also wrote the two biggest hits of Smith's many in 1953, "Just Wait Till I Get You Alone" and the immortal "Hey Joe."
He stopped touring in 1977, and his long and placid life thereafter as breeder of quarter horses won him a whole new set of friends and peers who often didn't even know he had once been a major country music star.
Daughter Carlene heads over here for a couple of Scottish dates in March.
He was married to June Carter from 1952 until 1957, and their daughter, Carlene Carter, gained prominence as a singer-songwriter during the late '70s. His subsequent marriage to country singer Goldie Hill began in September 1957 and lasted until her death in February 2005. Hill was the mother of his last three children, Lorri Lynn, Carl Jr. and Larry Dean, none of whom sought a career as a performer.
Smith's first No. 1 record, the near-million-selling "Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way," came in 1951. The next year brought Smith big hits with "(When You Feel Like You're in Love) Don't Just Stand There" and a double-sided smash with the Louvin Brothers' "Are You Teasing Me" and Boudleaux Bryant's "It's a Lovely, Lovely World." Bryant also wrote the two biggest hits of Smith's many in 1953, "Just Wait Till I Get You Alone" and the immortal "Hey Joe."
He stopped touring in 1977, and his long and placid life thereafter as breeder of quarter horses won him a whole new set of friends and peers who often didn't even know he had once been a major country music star.
Daughter Carlene heads over here for a couple of Scottish dates in March.
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