Biography
Stanley was born in Big Spraddle Creek in Dickenson County, Virginia. The son of Lucy and Lee Stanley, Carter grew up in rural southwestern Virginia. In 1946 he and his brother Ralph formed the Stanley Brothers, one of the most respected and influential bands in the new genre of bluegrass music. Carter played guitar and sang lead while Ralph played banjo and sang with a strong, high tenor voice. Their harmonies are much admired, and many consider Carter Stanley to be one of the greatest natural singers in the history of country music. Carter also composed more than a hundred songs, and many of them remain standards in the bluegrass genre. He had a particular knack for deceptively simple lyrics that portrayed strong emotion. His most famous compositions include "White Dove" and "The Fields Have Turned Brown." His arrangement of "Man of Constant Sorrow" was popularized in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The brothers broke up briefly in 1951 and Carter Stanley briefly played guitar with Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys. In 1953, he and Ralph reunited. After that time, the Stanley Brothers stayed together as one of the last great brother acts until October 21, 1966, when Carter began hemorrhaging during a performance at a school auditorium in Hazel Green, Kentucky and had to leave the stage. Six weeks later, on December 1, 1966, he was dead at age 41 of what was initially thought to be cirrhosis of the liver, but which has since been clinically diagnosed in several of his children and grandchildren by medical experts as a genetic liver defect, aggravated by poor diet and minor alcohol consumption. He was buried in accordance with his request on Smith Ridge, near Coeburn, Virginia.
In 1992 Carter Stanley was posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor.
Carter's daughter Jeanie Stanley made a brief foray into show business, recording only one album to date, titled Baby Girl: A Tribute to My Father, Carter Stanley on CMH Records.
Read more about this topic: Carter Stanley
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