Carl Belew
b. 21 April 1931, Salina, Oklahoma, USA, d. November 1990. Belew left school at 15 and became a plumber, but he was set on being a musician. Marvin Rainwater arranged a recording session for Four Star Records in 1955 and then, in 1958, he wrote Johnnie And Jack's hit single, Stop The World (And Let Me Off). He also recorded rockabilly (Cool Gator Shoes and Folding Money) but eventually found success with his self-penned Lonely Street, a maudlin country ballad with a lyrical nod to Heartbreak Hotel. It made the US Top 10 for Andy Williams and was subsequently recorded by Gene Vincent and Rex Allen Jnr. Another composition and country hit, Am I That Easy To Forget?, was a 1960 USA pop hit for Debbie Reynolds but he did not have UK success until Engelbert Humperdinck recorded it in 1968. The song, now a country standard, has also been recorded by Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, Leon Russell and, once again, Gene Vincent. Although Belew did not compose Crystal Chandelier or Hello Out There he garnered success with both songs. He did, however, write Eddy Arnold's US country number 1, What's He Doing In My World?. Belew returned to the country charts in the '70s with All I Need Is You, a duet with Betty Jean Robinson, but ill-health dogged his later years. He died from cancer in November 1990.