"It's Only Make Believe" is a song written by Conway Twitty and Jack Nance, released by Twitty as a single in 1958. The single topped both U.S. and British national charts, and was Twitty's only number-one single on the pop charts of either country. The song's lyrics describe the thoughts and feelings of a man in love with a woman who does not seem to be in love with him. He hopes and prays that, at some point in time, the woman will be able to return his love, but laments that, at present, "it's only make believe." The co-author of the song, Jack Nance, is not the same person as John Marvin Nance, an actor also known as Jack Nance. The co-author was a drummer, trumpet player and singer, who worked with Twitty in Arkansas as a teenager.  “It’s Only Make Believe," solidified his status as a teen idol, as did his appearances in Platinum High School, College Confidential (both 1960), and other teen movies. The “Conrad Birdie” in the 1960 Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie parodied Twitty.

Twitty wrote country songs throughout this period and yearned to return to that genre as a performer. Songwriter Harlan Howard took Twitty’s “Walk Me To The Door” to Columbia country star Ray Price, and urged Decca’s Owen Bradley to sign Twitty in 1965. Initially, country DJs were skeptical of the former pop star. But in 1968 he finally broke into the country Top Ten with “The Image of Me.”

Twitty’s follow up single, “Next In Line,” became the first of his forty #1 Billboard country hits. His intensely emotional singing and passion-filled lyrics energized such career-building records as “Hello Darlin”(1970), “Fifteen Years Ago” (1970), “How Much More Can She Stand (and Still Stand by Me”) (1971), the steamy “You’ve Never Been This Far Before” (1973), “There’s a Honky Tonk Angel” (1974), and “Linda on My Mind” (1975). Many of these embodied his trademark formula combining infidelity with guilt. Twitty and Loretta Lynn won a Grammy and four CMA awards for a series of classic duets, including “After The Fire is Gone” (1971), “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man” (1973), and “Feelin’s” (1975).

Twitty’s concerts, with their crowds of fervent female fans, often resembled religious revivals, leading Jerry Clower to dub him “The High Priest of Country Music.” Holding to a dramatic, minimalist style, for years Twitty did not speak onstage, do interviews, attend music-business parties, appear on TV shows, or perform encores.
In the late 1970’s Twitty began experimenting, adding elements of rock (“Boogie Grass Band”), soul (“Don’t Take it Away”), and outlaw sounds (“Play Guitar Play”). He also began producing his own albums and adopted a curly new hairdo in place of his previous pompadour and sideburns, Hits such as “I’d Love To Lay You Down” (1980), and “Tight Fittin’ Jeans” (1981) also signified a more contemporary sound and a more open, less guilt-ridden sexuality.

Twitty switched from MCA (his label after it absorbed Decca) to Warner/Elektra in 1981 and recorded country versions of the pop hits “Slow Hand,” “The Rose,” and “Three Times a Lady.” Other earlier 1980s hits included “I Don’t Know a Thing About Love (The Moon Song),” penned by Harlan Howard. Twitty opened his $3 million dollar Twitty City tourism complex in Nashville in 1981 and inaugurated annual “Country Explosion” concerts to kick off Fan Fair (later called the CMA Music Festival). He also invested in the Nashville Sounds minor-league baseball team and the United Talent booking agency.