Robert Lee Helms (August 15, 1933 – June 19, 1997) was an American country singer, who is best remembered for his 1957 Christmas hit "

Jingle Bell Rock "Jingle Bell Rock" is an American Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. Since its release, it has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas season since then. "Jingle Bell Rock" was composed by Joseph Car ...

". Additionally, he had two other hit records from that year: " Fraulein" and "

My Special Angel "My Special Angel" is a popular song by Jimmy Duncan, published in 1957. It was first recorded by the Sonny Land Trio and released by them in 1957, and was a crossover hit that year for Bobby Helms. "My Special Angel," which Bobby Helms reco ...

Life and career

Robert Lee Helms was born in 1933 in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mon ...

(some sources say nearby Helmsburg), the son of Hildreth Esther (née Abram) and Fred Robert Helms. His family was musical. Helms began performing as a

duo Duo may refer to: Places * Duo, West Virginia, an unincorporated community and coal town in Greenbrier County, West Virginia * Duo, Tampere, a shopping centre in Hervanta, Tampere, Finland * DUO, a twin-tower development in Singapore Arts, enter ...

with his

brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-famili ...

, Freddie, before going on to a successful solo career in country music. In 1956, Helms made his way to Nashville, Tennessee, where he signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

, and achieved multiple successes the following year. His first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in 1957, titled " Fraulein", went to No. 1 on the country music

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

and made it into the Top 40 on the ''Billboard'' Best Sellers in Stores chart. Later that same year, he released "

", which also hit No. 1 on the country charts and entered the Top 10 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

chart, peaking at No. 7. His song "

", which was released in the late fall of 1957, produced by Paul Cohen was a big

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

and was being played and danced to on Dick Clark's teen dance show '' American Bandstand'' by mid-December of that year. It also re-emerged in four out of the next five years, and sold so well that it repeated each time as a top hit, becoming a Christmas classic still played today. (In 2016, it was rated radio's third most-played Christmas song, according to StationIntel.) It took five years for the song to become a second million-seller for Helms. It reached No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and spent 21 weeks on the

. The record gained

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

status. At the end of a television performance of the song toward the end of his life, Helms said, “I didn’t want to do the song when they first brought it to me, but now I'm sure glad I did.”

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

and AllMusic list the writers of the song as Joseph Beal, Joseph Carlton, James Ross, and James Boothe. Another record by Helms was "Schoolboy Crush", which was a hit in the UK. It was released in the United States on June 23, 1958, on Decca. The same song was then covered by UK teen star

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

about the same time as the UK release. Helms continued touring and recording for the next three decades. His pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the

Rockabilly Hall of Fame The Rockabilly Hall of Fame is an organization and website launched on March 21, 1997, to present early rock and roll history and information relating to the artists and personalities involved in rockabilly. Headquartered in Nashville, Tenness ...

. Helms suffered from emphysema, asthma, diabetes, and stomach problems. He began wearing an eye patch after losing sight in his right eye. He spent most of his later years living just outside Martinsville, Indiana, until his death from complications from emphysema at the age of 63 on June 19, 1997. He was portrayed by

Brad Hawkins Brad Hawkins may refer to: * Brad Hawkins (actor) (born 1976), American actor * Brad Hawkins (American football) (born 1998), American football player * Brad Hawkins (politician) (born 1975), American politician {{hndis, Hawkins, Brad ...

in the 2007 film ''

Crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...

''.

Discography

Selected albums

* ''Sings to My Special Angel'' (

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...

, 1957) * ''I'm the Man'' ( Kapp, 1966) * ''Sorry My Name Isn't Fred'' (Kapp, 1966) * ''All New Just for You'' (Little Darlin', 1968) * ''Pop-a-Billy'' (

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gen ...

, 1983)

Singles

References

External links

* * * Helms_biography_at_Allmusic_website.html" ;"title="website.html" ;"title="Helms biography at Allmusic website">Helms biography at Allmusic website">website.html" ;"title="Helms biography at Allmusic website">Helms biography at Allmusic website {{DEFAULTSORT:Helms, Bobby 1933 births 1997 deaths American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters American male pop singers Deaths from emphysema Decca Records artists 20th-century American singers Country musicians from Indiana 20th-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from Indiana

Life and career

Discography

Selected albums

Singles

See also

References

External links