Although he had a country band and a radio show in Helena by the time he was 10 years old, Mr. Twitty did not, at first, seriously consider a career as a performer. "I never thought of myself as competing with the country singers I heard on the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts from Nashville," he said. "I thought I hadn't lived long enough to sing country music for real."

For a time, Mr. Twitty dreamed of playing center field in the major leagues. He played high school and semi-professional baseball well enough to draw an offer from the Philadelphia Phillies, but a draft notice in 1954 intervened. Sports remained a passion, and Mr. Twitty was a part owner of a minor league baseball team, the Nashville Sounds. Tip From Elvis

After his discharge from the Army, Mr. Twitty heard an early Elvis Presley record and changed his mind about a career in music. Mr. Presley's fusion of white and black musical styles was revolutionary, but it was a combination of elements Mr. Twitty knew well. "I think I can do that," he recalled saying to himself. He formed a group called the Rock Housers, which performed anywhere it could, including supermarket openings.

The group, renamed the Twitty Birds, began barnstorming the United States and Canada, playing Southern rockabilly with some success. But by 1958, Mr. Twitty later recalled: "I had disbanded my rock-and-roll group and was back home in Helena, Ark. We had recorded a song called, 'It's Only Make Believe,' and I was sure it was a hit. But the record had been out for weeks and hadn't done anything.

"Actually, they were pushing the flip side, 'I'll Try,' " he said. "Anyway, I had a call from a disk jockey in Columbus, Ohio. He told me I had a smash in that town." So Mr. Twitty called his band back together and began driving toward Columbus.

"I had this orchid-and-white 1957 Mercury," Mr. Twitty recalled, "a total lemon from the day I bought it. I had lemons painted all over it and 'Oil Burner' written on the side in big black letters. Well, we got near Columbus and picked up the station and every second record they were playing was, 'It's Only Make Believe.' " Crossing Over Early

The song, a throbbing ballad that Mr. Twitty wrote during an intermission in Hamilton, Ontario, went on to sell eight million copies worldwide. Then came appearances on the Perry Como, Dick Clark and Arthur Godfrey shows.