Lonely For You

"Lonely for You" borrows a significant part of its melody from Conway Twitty's "It's Only Make Believe," but nevertheless became Gary Stites' biggest hit and only Top 40 chart entry. Stites' label, Carlton Records, followed up with a complete LP, Lonely for You, in 1960, issued in mono and stereo editions. In addition to the hit title track, the album contains the minor hits "Starry Eyed" and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," a cover of Lloyd Price's 1952 R&B hit. The album tracks include the flip side of "Lonely for You" ("Shine That Ring") and a cover of Faye Adams' 1953 R&B chart-topper, "Shake a Hand." Stites proves himself adept at teen ballads ("Don't Wanna Say Goodbye"), rockers ("Chicken Shack"), and call-and-response party records ("Hey, Hey"), but doesn't establish much of a musical identity. He is a competent singer with a voice vaguely similar to Johnny Tillotson, but is otherwise lacking a distinctive sound. Collectors with a fondness for the early-'60s "teen sound" will appreciate Stites' well-executed recordings and formulaic songs, but it would be a stretch to argue that he created anything out of the ordinary. The Carlton tapes have been lost, so any reissues of Stites' material will be mastered from vinyl. Buyers beware of a poor-quality "gray market" CD, also titled Lonely for You, that contains 30 scratchy disc dubs.