Helen Carter

At 70 years old, Helen Carter physical status not available right now. We will update Helen Carter's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Helen pursued a solo career apart from the family. She recorded for a number of historically important independent labels such as Tennessee, Republic, Starday and Hickory. She had releases on major labels such as Columbia and Okeh as well. She recorded duets with such acts as The Willis Brothers, Johnny Bond, famed Grand Olde Opry announcer Grant Turner, and Wiley Barkdull (a singer who sounded a lot like Lefty Frizzell). In the 1960s, Helen teamed with Dolores "Tootsie" Dinning (of the Dinning Sisters and later The Nashville Edition) to form a short-lived group called the Blondettes that recorded for MGM. While many of Carter's solo recordings were favorites with loyal fans and always welcomed by concert goers, they did not have a great deal of commercial success. One likely reason for Helen's limited success as a solo artist may have been competition for radio air play with other members of her famous clan.

Throughout the recording career of the Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle, much of the time, all four group members had individual recording contracts as well. Though each had her own style, it is of note that all members of the Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle group (in various combinations) often sang and played on one another's solo recordings. Therefore, it was not unusual for the members' solo recordings to sound a lot like the group recordings.

Another possible reason for Helen Carter's limited success with her solo recordings may simply have been that she was ahead of her time in terms of what the conservative country music establishment was willing to accept. The 1950s was an era in which barriers were being broken by the likes of Kitty Wells. Yet, some of Helen's self-penned lyrics may have been deemed a bit risque:

From Unfit Mother: My neighbors said I was too wild, unfit to mother my own child

From Heart Full of Shame: I came to him in a veil of purest white, but you came to him as an angel of the night

From There Ain't no Future for Me: When you take me in your arms and snuggle me up tight, I can't help but wonder who you held last night

On occasion Helen Carter's writing would lure listeners into uncomfortable, dark situations:

From Satan's Child: ...he was tempted more than any man could stand...he thought he could save himself by taking Nelly's life...

From Is this My Destiny?: At night I toss and wonder why I must live while others die

From The Pickup: The morning papers told how she died. Jumped from a bridge; suicide

Helen's greatest commercial success came by way of her songwriting. She wrote for Acuff-Rose Music and Pamper Music, among other companies. Some of the better known titles she wrote or co-wrote include "The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea", "Wall to Wall Love", "Fast Boat to Sydney," "The First One to Love You", "We Lived it Up," "Rosanna's Going Wild", "Loving You Was Worth This Broken Heart", "Poor Old Heartsick Me", "Is This My Destiny?" and "What am I Supposed to Do?" Music acts as diverse as Skeeter Davis, Red Foley, Australian singer Dorothy Baker, the Byrds, Jan Howard, Wanda Jackson, Carl Butler, Ernest Ashworth, Johnny Cash, Linda Manning, Duane Eddy, the Knitters, Billy Grammer, Dawn Kight & the Casuals, Ray Price, Jimmie Dickens, Willie Nelson, Faron Young, Johnnie & Jack, the Osborne Brothers, Jean Shepard, the Cowslingers, the Louvin Brothers, the Browns, Ann-Margret, Chet Atkins, George Morgan, Waylon Jennings and Mark Dinning are among the more than sixty who have recorded her songs.

Helen Carter recorded two solo albums for Old Homestead Records and did guest spots on recordings by her niece Carlene Carter and Southern Gospel artist Jacky Jack White later in her life. Additionally there was an LP collaboration with old-time artists the Phipps Family. Helen also teamed with various members of the Carter Family for periodic recordings. In addition to the numerous recordings before Maybelle's death, Helen recorded with later versions of the Carter Family. In the 1980s a group featuring Helen (with two of her sons: David & Kevin; another son, Danny, occasionally performed with an earlier version of the group in the 1970s) and Anita (with her daughter Lorrie) recorded two albums and some singles for the Audiograph label. Helen, Anita and June (with one of her daughters, Carlene) recorded for Polygram/Mercury a few years later. June's other daughter, Rosie joined the group after Carlene's solo career began to gain momentum in the 1990s. On personal appearances it was not unusual for the lineup of the Carter Family to change. June's son John Carter Cash, and her granddaughter, Tiffany; as well as other relatives, sometimes performed with the group.

More about Helen's career with the Carter Family

With the Carter Sisters and Maybelle, Helen did experience chart success. During the 1960s and 1970s, the group charted a few albums (such as Country's First Family, 1976) and singles including "Traveling Minstrel Band", "The World Needs a Melody", and "A Song for Mama". Many were duet recordings with Helen Carter's brother-in-law Johnny Cash. It is also of note that the group was prominently featured on numerous Cash recordings but often went uncredited. Throughout their careers, in fact, all four group members recorded (as soloists and in various combinations) with such acts as Johnny Horton, Dolly Parton, the Wilburn Brothers, Boots Randolph, Grandpa Jones, Flatt & Scruggs, Carl Smith, Porter Wagoner, Merle Haggard, Darrell Glenn, Lefty Frizzell and many others. They were sought after for both their vocal and instrumental contributions in the studio. These collaborations produced a number of charting hits (and in at least one case a multi-million seller) along with various obscure B-sides and album cuts.

Helen Carter was a regular on Johnny Cash's network television program and on his TV specials. Along with other members of the Carter Family, Helen received a gold record for her participation in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. II. The group sang backup on two tracks from the album.

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