By Randal C. Hill
Howard and David Bellamy would sometimes wake up to the sounds of a Merle Haggard or Buck Owens record being spun by their music-loving father. The future superstar siblings were frequently exposed to such country-music icons, as well as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, and, later, music of the mid-1960s British Invasion.
Home was a cattle ranch in west central Florida, and the boys went to high school in nearby Darby. Once they graduated (Howard in 1964, David four years later), they launched their music career, first performing gratis with their fiddle-playing dad at a jamboree called the Rattlesnake Roundup in nearby San Antonio, Florida.
The Bellamys also tried their hands at writing, and David’s co-authorship with Jim Stafford resulted in “Spiders and Snakes” becoming a novelty home run. Sales of 3 million singles gave the brothers the cash needed to move to Los Angeles, where they hoped to connect with the music scene there.
They befriended Neil Diamond’s backup band. One day, Diamond’s drummer brought a demo record to the twosome, enthusing, “Hey, this sounds like something you guys would do.” It was a song called “Let Your Love Flow” and had been written by Diamond’s road manager Larry Williams.
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Diamond and Johnny Rivers had previously passed on the tune. The Bellamys loved it. Howard and David signed with Warner/Curb Records, cut the song in a couple of takes, and watched in amazement as it became the best-selling record of the year.
Riding the tsunami of their initial success, the pair began touring the world. “We’ve always been known as a live act,” Howard says. “We’ve gone with the idea that we’re going to have fun and the audience is, too. Performing is not something we got into for money. We got into it for the love of it. It’s a lifestyle with us. That’s how we’ve managed to stay on the road for so long.”
