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- Helen Myrl Carter (September 19, 1927 – June 2, 1998) was an American country music singer. She was a member of the Carter Family. Helen Carter's mother was Maybelle Carter. She performed with her mother and sisters, June Carter and Anita Carter, as a member of Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters. The group was also known as "The Carter Family. " Helen Carter had a professional career in music that spanned 60 years. As a child, she played to some of the largest radio audiences in history by way of the powerful signals from the Mexican Border Stations of the 1930s and 1940s. Helen also 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. 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. The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle group (aka the Carter Family) toured, made radio appearances and commercial recordings and all the Carters had individual recording contracts as well. One likely reason for Helen's limited success with her solo recordings may have been competition for radio air play with other members of her famous clan. It is of note that all members of the group (Maybelle, Helen, June and Anita) frequently sang on one another's solo recordings in various combinations. Many times the members' solo recordings sounded like the group recordings. Despite her beautiful voice, Helen very rarely sang lead in the Carter Family group and seemed content to focus her efforts on harmony and instrumental backing. Many country music historians list Helen Carter as the best overall musician and most talented songwriter among the Carter Sisters. In the 1960s, Helen teamed with Dolores Dinning, of the Dinning Sisters, to form a short-lived group called the Blondettes that recorded for MGM. With the Carter Sisters and Maybelle, Helen did experience chart success. During the 1960s and 1970s, the group charted a number of singles including Traveling Minstrel Band, The World Needs a Melody and A Song for Mama. Many were duet recordings with brother-in-law Johnny Cash. The group frequently appeared on Cash recordings but often went uncredited. Throughout their careers, in fact, all four group members recorded with such musicians as Johnny Horton, Dolly Parton, the Wilburn Brothers and many others. 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 and sang back up on two tracks from the album. Helen's greatest commercial success came by way of songwriting. Some of her better known titles include The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea, Wall to Wall Love, Rosanna's Going Wild, Poor Old Heartsick Me and What am I Supposed to Do. Music acts as diverse as the Louvin Brothers, Ann-Margaret, Waylon Jennings and Mark Dinning are among the more than sixty artists who recorded her songs. Helen Carter recorded two solo albums for Old Homestead Records, as well as guest spots on recordings by her niece Carlene Carter and Southern Gospel artist Jacky Jack White toward the end of her life.
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