Conway Twitty’s It’s Only Make Believe will definitely shatter your heart into tiny little pieces as you inhale in every lyric. It was a story of a dream that can only be as real as a make believe. The heartbreaking song was written by Conway Twitty himself and drummer Jack Nance in between their sets at Flamingo Lounge, Hamilton in Ontario, Canada. He recorded the song under MGM records featuring Floyd’ Lightnin’ Chance on double bass.
At that time, Conway Twitty was an unknown rock n’ roll singer and he just changed his name from Harold Lloyd Jenkins. But this song paved the way to making a name for himself in the industry.
It’s Only Make Believe hit the charts in September 1958 and made it to number one twice in November. It peaked in both the US and the UK Singles Chart earning him the number one pop single of his career. It sold over 8 million copies and became a hit in 22 different countries.
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After the song’s success, it became one of the widely popular Conway Twitty songs to be covered. In a long list of covers, there were two chart-hitting versions. The first one was English singer Billy Fury’s cover, which reached number 10 in the UK charts in 1964. And in 1970, American singer and guitarist Glen Campbell’s version reached number 4 in the UK and top 10 in the US charts.
Twitty also recorded his own versions of the song. In 1970, he recorded a duet with Loretta Lynn for their collaborative album titled We Only Make Believe. And in 1988, he featured in the last verse of Ronnie McDowell’s uptempo cover of the song. He was also credited with a contribution to the alternative version by McDowell. The song became a hit in the country music charts landing at number 8.
Coway Twitty switched to Country after 1965, and he earned himself 41 chart-topping hits before his death in 1993. You can watch Coway Twitty’s ‘It’s Only Make Believe’ in the video below.
