Just about to post the same. Here is how close Jim and sisters came to quitting, and how Chet Atkins helped them at the last minute. Just a question or two different and history would be quite different. Turns out the name in the song was Jimmy Brown. The song was originally in French.
In 1959, the Browns, then with RCA Records, had told producer Chet Atkins that they were thinking of quitting the business, but Atkins asked them to come to Nashville and record one more time.
“Chet asked if there was anything we wanted to do that we hadn’t recorded,” Brown said. “We told him about a song called ‘The Three Bells’ that we sang coming from Pine Bluff to Nashville. We recorded it, and after the session, Chet said, ‘You kids may think you’re about to retire, but I think you’ve just recorded the biggest song we’ve ever done.’”
"The Three Bells"
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
August 24, 1959 – September 14, 1959,
Approximately 4 weeks
Billboard Hot Country & Western Sides number-one single
August 31, 1959 – November 2, 1959
Over two months.
Dick Clark link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4eUmIaJIbEHe will be missed, but his music lives on.
Cheers
Steve
