System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Johnny Cash, Country Music Legend
February 26, 1932 - September 12, 2003
Johnny Cash, "The Man in Black" country music legend has died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 71. Johnny died at 1 a.m. EDT due to complications from diabetes, which resulted in respiratory failure. He spent two weeks in the hospital prior to Wednesday and was treated for an unspecified stomach ailment. Johnny suffered from a number of complications, he battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic neuropathy, and pneumonia in recent years.
Cash's career spanned generations, he won 11 Grammys and numerous Country Music Association awards. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Dozens of his hit records like "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line," and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" defined Cash's personality and humanity. He was a true and dignified spokesman for the working man and downtrodden. Johnny Cash sang about prisoners, heartaches, and tales of everyday life and wrote much of his own material.
John R. Cash was born Feb. 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Ark., one of seven children. When he was 12, his 14-year-old brother and hero, Jack, died after an accident while sawing oak trees into fence posts. The tragedy had a lasting impact on Cash, and he later pointed to it as a possible reason his music was frequently melancholy. He worked in a number of menial jobs before enlisting in the Air Force. He learned to play guitar while stationed in Germany, before launching his music career after his 1954 discharge. Cash launched his career in Memphis, performing on radio station KWEM. He auditioned with Sun Records, ultimately recording the single "Hey Porter," which became a hit.
He married June Carter Cash in 1968, she was a singing legend in her own right, she co-wrote Cash's hit "Ring of Fire" and partnered with her husband in hits such as "Jackson." She died this past May. Together, the couple had one child, John Carter Cash. He is a musician and producer. Cash's daughter, Rosanne Cash is also a talented musician. She is Johnny's daughter from his first marriage, to Vivian Liberto who he divorced in 1966. Their other three children were Kathleen, Cindy and Tara. However, Johnny claims it was June who helped him succeed with with his career and his drug addiction and couldn't have done it without her.
By the late 1960s and '70s Johnny hosted his own ABC variety show from 1969-71. In later years, he was part of the Highwayman supergroup with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kristofferson. Johnny Cash was also multi-talented, he also wrote a number of books including two autobiographies, and acted in films and television shows.
