Jeff Carson – born Jeffrey Lee Herndon in Tulsa, Oklahoma on December 16, 1963 – was a country music artist best known for his 1995 Number 1 hit “Not on Your Love.” Raised in Gravette, Arkansas, he learned to play guitar and harmonica when he was a child and sang in church. He formed a band with high school friends and entered several talent competitions. Relocating to Branson, Missouri, he played in several local bands while writing his own songs. He then moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1989 and found work with a local band at the Opryland Hotel, where he would often perform solo shows. After recording a series of demos, he was signed to Curb Records after being discovered by producer Chuck Howard. Jeff Carson’s debut single, “Yeah, Buddy,” was released in 1994, which reached Number 69. “Not on Your Love” was released in 1995 and hit the Number 1 spot on the Country Music Singles chart. His self-titled debut album was released in 1995 and included the previous two singles as well as the Top 10 hits “The Car” and “Holdin’ Onto Somethin’.” Jeff Carson’s video for “The Car” won the ACM Video of the Year Award in 1996. His second album, Butterfly Kisses, was released in 1997 and barely squeaked into the Top 40. The album’s four singles were only mildly successful. His 1999 album, Real Life, was also a Top 40 album but the singles suffered the same fate as the previous album. Jeff Carson recorded several other singles over the next decade but only “I Can Only Imagine” (2003) made the top 50. In 2009, he left the music industry and became a full-time police officer in the city of Franklin, Tennessee. Jeff Carson died on March 26, 2022, from a heart attack. He was 58 years old.
