“The failure of my marriage has made me do a lot of thinking,” says Jim Ed. “I grew up extremely poor and promised myself my children would never want for the things I did. I put material things above my marriage and family life. I wonder if that was all a wrong attitude.” Adds Helen: “There’s a lot of guilt feeling any time you value something in life and fail at it.”
She and her husband had consulted a marriage counselor, but problems remained. “Lewis never mentioned Jim Ed,” says Helen, “but my being gone so much bothered him. And there were little things,” she continues. “When I was invited out, it was expected for me to show up with Jim Ed, not my husband. The spouses would see us smiling in each other’s eyes on television, singing a love song.”
To complicate the situation, Lewis was not working at the time and was more or less in charge of their three children while Helen toured. “He had to endure the loneliness of the days, and I know it was terrible for him to go to bed alone each night,” says Helen. “But I don’t think quitting my career would have solved the problems. If my children had ever asked me to quit, I would have done it in a minute, but they enjoyed what my income provided for them. I thought I could have the success and the marriage. I thought I could beat the odds.”
That was, of course, the expectation of both couples, particularly with their conservative origins. Helen grew up a Southern Baptist in Hannibal, Mo., married when she was 18 and had her three children by 21. Before she met Jim Ed, she worked mostly at home, writing tunes for singers like Lynn Anderson, Barbara Fairchild and Connie Smith. Brown, son of an Arkansas lumber dealer, began singing with his two sisters (as the Browns, they had a hit with Three Bells in 1959) before going solo in 1967. He and Helen were teamed by Nashville producer Bob Ferguson in 1976, in what amounted to a blind recording date. The result, I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You, became the first of their 10 Top 10 singles. Jim Ed also co-hosts the syndicated Nashville on the Road TV series on which Helen is a regular, and all of that has made them a top concert attraction. “I went from making $3,500 a day to $10,000 with Helen,” Jim Ed says. They have, however, just hired stage director Kent Cathcart to doctor their act. “Their show is a little old-fashioned,” Kent feels. “We’re working to let their talents shine through.”
Cornelius has let her hair down—literally, to a windblown look, as well as figuratively. “When I first started in the music business,” she says, “I thought I had to appear matronly because I had three small children. I used to pick up women’s magazines and be wrapped up in family planning, decorating and recipes. Now,” she continues, “I pick up those magazines and look at new fashion trends and new makeups. Only this year have I worn a bathing suit in front of the boys in the band and gone to the hotel pool. Before, I was too bashful to show all the sides of Helen Cornelius.”
They won’t have to wait long for the reaction of their Country Music Association peers to their new relationship. Brown and Cornelius are up for the CMA “Vocal Duo of the Year” award October 13. They won in 1977, and Jim Ed thinks if there is any justice they will repeat, being the only permanent partners of the five nominees (the others: Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty, Janie Fricke & Johnny Duncan, George Jones & Tammy Wynette, and Moe Bandy & Joe Stampley).