Don Gibson

Donald Eugene Gibson (1928 - 2003) was born in Shelby, North Carolina on April 3, 1928 into a poor working-class family. With a limited formal education, his career as a singer/songwriter began by performing in local clubs and on the radio.

Moving to Tennessee as a young man he joined the KNOX barn dance in Knoxville before recording his own composition, “Oh Lonesome Me” in Nashville. It would be a chart topping hit on both the country and pop Hit Parade in 1958. It was followed by another song Don wrote, a top ten country hit, “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” that would later become a #1 worldwide hit for Ray Charles. “Blue Blue Day,” “Give Myself A Party” and “Look Who’s Blue” were also hits in 1958.

With more than eighty country and pop hits to his credit, including “Sweet Dreams” in 1960, “Sea of Heartbreak”and “Lonesome #1” in 1961 and his #1 “Woman, Sensuous Woman” in 1972, Gibson also had success singing duets with Dottie West and Sue Thompson.

In 1973, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and prior to his death at 75 years of age on November 17, 2003, Don Gibson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

He was buried at the Sunset Cemetery in his hometown of Shelby, North Carolina.