Donald Eugene Gibson (April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003) was an American country singer and songwriter. Gibson wrote such country standards as the ballad "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoyed a string of country hits from 1956 until the late '70s, including number ones on the US Country Chart with Oh Lonesome Me and Blue Blue Day, both tracks he also wrote.
Gibson was an inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, nicknamed "the Sad Poet" because he frequently wrote songs that told of loneliness and lost love.
Don Gibson was born in Shelby, North Carolina, The youngest of five children, he was born to a family of sharecroppers during the Depression. His father, Solon Gibson, worked for the railroad and died when Don was two years old. His mother, Mary, later remarried and the family eventually made living as sharecroppers. Gibson disliked farm work from an early age and sought to distance himself from the life of agricultural labor.
Gibson stopped attending school regularly after the second grade, a decision he later regretted. He subsequently became an avid reader, reportedly in part to compensate for his limited formal education. He was also notably shy throughout his childhood and youth and had a pronounced stutter. He was self-conscious about his appearance and voice and would sometimes avoid entering crowded places.
Music became an important form of escape for Gibson. He frequented a local pool hall, where he listened to country music, and also heard country performers on the radio. At the age of 14, he bought an inexpensive guitar and began teaching himself to play. Among the performers whose songs he learned were Red Foley and Tennessee Ernie Ford. His early musical development was largely informal, based on listening, imitation, and practice rather than formal musical training.
Gibson's first band was called Sons of the Soil, with whom he made his first recording for Mercury Records in 1949. In 1957, he journeyed to Nashville to work with producer Chet Atkins and record his self-penned songs "Oh Lonesome Me" and "I Can't Stop Loving You" for RCA Victor. The afternoon session resulted in a double-sided hit on both the country and pop charts. "Oh Lonesome Me" set the pattern for a long series of other RCA hits. "Blue Blue Day", recorded prior to "Oh, Lonesome Me" was a number-une hit in 1958. His later singles included "Look Who's Blue" (1958), "Don't Tell Me Your Troubles" (1959), "Sea of Heartbreak" (1961), "Lonesome No. 1", "I Can Mend Your Broken Heart" (1962), and "Woman (Sensuous Woman)", a number-one country hit in 1972.
Gibson recorded a series of successful duets with Dottie West in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the most successful of which were the number-two country hit "Rings of Gold" (1969) and the top-10 hit "There's a Story Goin' Round" (1970). West and Gibson released an album together in 1969, titled Dottie and Don. He also recorded several duets with Sue Thompson, among these being the top-40 hits "I Think They Call It Love" (1972), "Good Old Fashioned Country Love" (1974), and "Oh, How Love Changes" (1975).
His song "I Can't Stop Loving You" has been recorded by over 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles in 1962. He also wrote and recorded "Sweet Dreams", a song that became a major 1963 crossover hit for Patsy Cline. Roy Orbison was a fan of Gibson's songwriting, and in 1967, he recorded an album of his songs simply titled Roy Orbison Sings Don Gibson. Gibson's wide appeal was also shown in Neil Young's recorded version of "Oh Lonesome Me" on his 1970 album, After the Gold Rush, which is one of the few songs Young has recorded that he did not write.
Gibson married Polly Bratcher prior to 1958. He married Bobbi Patterson in 1967.
He died of natural causes on November 17, 2003.
Gibson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973. In 2001, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010.
Located in Cleveland County, North Carolina, the Don Gibson Theater opened in November 2009 in historic uptown Shelby. Originally constructed in 1939, the renovated art deco gem features an exhibit of the life and accomplishments of singer-songwriter Don Gibson, an intimate 400-seat music hall, and adjoining function space that can accommodate up to 275 people. The theater showcases a busy schedule of premier musical performances. Past performers have included Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Tom Paxton, Ralph Stanley, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, John Oates, and Gene Watson.
Singles from collaboration albums
Wolfe, Stacey (1998). "Don Gibson". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 199.
Gibson discography at Emory Law
Gibson in the Country Music Hall of Fame
Gibson at the Nashville Songwriters Foundation
Allmusic Don Gibson with Biography, Discography, Charts