Helen Cornelius, 1941 – 2025

Country singer and songwriter Helen Cornelius, 83, died on July 18. She came from a musical family: her brothers had their own band, and as a teen, Cornelius sang with her sisters Judy and Sharon. Though she also sang solo, she didn’t hit the big-time till she started singing duets with Jim Ed Thompson (their 1976 song “I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You” was a big country hit). Cornelius and Thompson had further successes with “Saying Hello, Saying I Love You, Saying Goodbye,” “If the World Ran Out of Love Tonight,” “Lying in Love with You,” “Fools,” and “Morning Comes Too Early.” She also performed solo, in Branson and the Grand Ole Opry, and toured in Annie Get Your Gun. As Cornelius told Bill Littleton of Performance Magazine, "Belief in oneself is probably the most important ingredient to success that there is, because if you believe in yourself, then nothing is gonna knock you down. I feel so blessed to be able to make a living doing something I love so much.”

Helen Cornelius sings “Banks of The Ohio” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcJwMO3jruA