Post by Laura on Sept 13, 2003 13:26:16 GMT -5
Music Legend Johnny Cash Dies at 71
story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030912/ap_on_en_mu/obit_cash&cid=501&ncid=716
By JOHN GEROME, Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Johnny Cash, "The Man in Black" who
became a towering figure in American music with such hits as
"Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line," and "A Boy Named
Sue," died Friday. He was 71.
"Johnny died due to complications from diabetes, which
resulted in respiratory failure," Cash's manager, Lou Robin,
said in a statement issued by Baptist Hospital in Nashville.
He said Cash died at the hospital at 1 a.m. EDT.
"I hope that friends and fans of Johnny will pray for the
Cash family to find comfort during this very difficult
time," Robin said.
Cash had been released from the hospital Wednesday after a
two-week stay for treatment of an unspecified stomach
ailment. The illness caused him to miss last month's MTV Music
awards, where he had been nominated in seven categories.
Cash had battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic
neuropathy, and pneumonia in recent years.
Dozens of hit records like "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk
the Line," and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" defined Cash's
persona: a haunted, dignified, resilient spokesman for the
working man and downtrodden.
Cash's deeply lined face fit well with his unsteady voice,
which was limited in range but used to great effect to sing
about prisoners, heartaches, and tales of everyday life. He
wrote much of his own material, and was among the first to
record the songs of Bob Dylan (news) and Kris Kristofferson
(news).
"One Piece at a Time" was about an assembly line worker who
built a car out of parts stolen from his factory. "A Boy
Named Sue" was a comical story of a father who gives his son
a girl's name to make him tough. "The Ballad of Ira Hayes"
told of the drunken death of an American Indian soldier who
helped raised the American flag at Iwo Jima during World
War II, but returned to harsh racism in America.
Cash said in his 1997 autobiography "Cash" that he tried to
speak for "voices that were ignored or even suppressed in
the entertainment media, not to mention the political and
educational establishments."
Cash's career spanned generations, with each finding
something of value in his simple records, many of which used his
trademark rockabilly rhythm.
Cash was a peer of Elvis Presley when rock 'n' roll was
born in Memphis in the 1950s, and he scored hits like "Cry!
Cry! Cry!" during that era. He had a longtime friendship and
recorded with Dylan, who has cited Cash as a major
influence.
He won 11 Grammys — most recently in 2003, when "Give My
Love To Rose" earned him honors as best male country vocal
performance — 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.
His second wife, June Carter Cash, and daughter Roseanne
Cash also were successful singers. June Carter Cash, who
co-wrote Cash's hit "Ring of Fire" and partnered with her
husband in hits such as "Jackson," died in May.
The late 1960s and '70s were Cash's peak commercial years,
and he was host of 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.
In the 1990s, he found a new artistic life recording with
rap and hard rock producer Rick Rubin on the label American
Recordings. And he was back on the charts in with the 2002
album "American IV: the Man Comes Around."
Most recently, Cash was recognized for his cover of the
Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" with seven nominations at last
month's MTV Video Music Awards. He had hoped to attend the
event but couldn't because of his hospital stay. The video won
for best cinematography.
He also wrote books including two autobiographies, and
acted in films and television shows.
In his 1971 hit "Man in Black," Cash said his black
clothing symbolized the downtrodden people in the world. Cash had
been "The Man in Black" since he joined the Grand Ole Opry
at age 25.
"Everybody was wearing rhinestones, all those sparkle
clothes and cowboy boots," he said in 1986. "I decided to wear a
black shirt and pants and see if I could get by with it. I
did and I've worn black clothes ever since."
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 as a custodian and enlisted in the Air Force,
learning guitar while stationed in Germany, before launching
his music career after his 1954 discharge.
"All through the Air Force, I was so lonely for those three
years," Cash told The Associated Press during a 1996
interview. "If I couldn't have sung all those old country songs,
I don't think I could have made it."
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.
Sun Records also launched the careers of Presley, Roy
Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and others.
"Folsom Prison Blues," went to No. 4 on the country charts
in 1956, and featured Cash's most famous couplet: "I shot a
man in Reno/ just to watch him die."
Cash recorded theme albums celebrating the railroads and
the Old West, and decrying the mistreatment of American
Indians. Two of his most popular albums were recorded live at
prisons. Along the way he notched 14 No. 1 country music
hits.
Because of Cash's frequent performances in prisons and his
rowdy lifestyle early in his career, many people wrongly
thought he had served prison time. He never did, though he
battled addictions to pills on and off throughout his life.
He blamed fame for his vulnerability to drug addiction.
"When I was a kid, I always knew I'd sing on the radio
someday. I never thought about fame until it started happening
to me," he said in 1988. "Then it was hard to handle.
That's why I turned to pills."
He credited June Carter Cash, whom he married in 1968, with
helping him stay off drugs, though he had several relapses
over the years and was treated at the Betty Ford Center in
California in 1984.
June Carter Cash was the daughter of country music great
Mother Maybelle Carter, and the mother of singer Carlene
Carter, whose father was country singer Carl Smith. Together,
June Carter and Cash had one child, John Carter Cash. He is
a musician and producer.
Singer Rosanne Cash is Johnny Cash's daughter from his
first marriage, to Vivian Liberto. Their other three children
were Kathleen, Cindy and Tara. They divorced in 1966.
In March 1998, Cash made headlines when his
California-based record company, American Recordings, took out an
advertisement in the music trade magazine Billboard. The full-page
ad celebrated Cash's 1998 Grammy award for best country
album for "Unchained." The ad showed an enraged-looking Cash
in his younger years making an obscene gesture to
sarcastically illustrate his thanks to country radio stations and
"the country music establishment in Nashville," which he felt
had unfairly cast him aside.
Jennings, a close friend, once said of Cash: "He's been
like a brother to me. He's one of the greatest people in the
world."
Cash once credited his mother, Carrie Rivers Cash, with
encouraging him to pursue a singing career.
"My mother told me to keep on singing, and that kept me
working through the cotton fields. She said God has his hand
on you. You'll be singing for the world someday."
Cash lived in Hendersonville, Tenn., just outside of
Nashville. He also had a home in Jamaica.
story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030912/ap_on_en_mu/obit_cash&cid=501&ncid=716
By JOHN GEROME, Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Johnny Cash, "The Man in Black" who
became a towering figure in American music with such hits as
"Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line," and "A Boy Named
Sue," died Friday. He was 71.
"Johnny died due to complications from diabetes, which
resulted in respiratory failure," Cash's manager, Lou Robin,
said in a statement issued by Baptist Hospital in Nashville.
He said Cash died at the hospital at 1 a.m. EDT.
"I hope that friends and fans of Johnny will pray for the
Cash family to find comfort during this very difficult
time," Robin said.
Cash had been released from the hospital Wednesday after a
two-week stay for treatment of an unspecified stomach
ailment. The illness caused him to miss last month's MTV Music
awards, where he had been nominated in seven categories.
Cash had battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic
neuropathy, and pneumonia in recent years.
Dozens of hit records like "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk
the Line," and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" defined Cash's
persona: a haunted, dignified, resilient spokesman for the
working man and downtrodden.
Cash's deeply lined face fit well with his unsteady voice,
which was limited in range but used to great effect to sing
about prisoners, heartaches, and tales of everyday life. He
wrote much of his own material, and was among the first to
record the songs of Bob Dylan (news) and Kris Kristofferson
(news).
"One Piece at a Time" was about an assembly line worker who
built a car out of parts stolen from his factory. "A Boy
Named Sue" was a comical story of a father who gives his son
a girl's name to make him tough. "The Ballad of Ira Hayes"
told of the drunken death of an American Indian soldier who
helped raised the American flag at Iwo Jima during World
War II, but returned to harsh racism in America.
Cash said in his 1997 autobiography "Cash" that he tried to
speak for "voices that were ignored or even suppressed in
the entertainment media, not to mention the political and
educational establishments."
Cash's career spanned generations, with each finding
something of value in his simple records, many of which used his
trademark rockabilly rhythm.
Cash was a peer of Elvis Presley when rock 'n' roll was
born in Memphis in the 1950s, and he scored hits like "Cry!
Cry! Cry!" during that era. He had a longtime friendship and
recorded with Dylan, who has cited Cash as a major
influence.
He won 11 Grammys — most recently in 2003, when "Give My
Love To Rose" earned him honors as best male country vocal
performance — 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.
His second wife, June Carter Cash, and daughter Roseanne
Cash also were successful singers. June Carter Cash, who
co-wrote Cash's hit "Ring of Fire" and partnered with her
husband in hits such as "Jackson," died in May.
The late 1960s and '70s were Cash's peak commercial years,
and he was host of 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.
In the 1990s, he found a new artistic life recording with
rap and hard rock producer Rick Rubin on the label American
Recordings. And he was back on the charts in with the 2002
album "American IV: the Man Comes Around."
Most recently, Cash was recognized for his cover of the
Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" with seven nominations at last
month's MTV Video Music Awards. He had hoped to attend the
event but couldn't because of his hospital stay. The video won
for best cinematography.
He also wrote books including two autobiographies, and
acted in films and television shows.
In his 1971 hit "Man in Black," Cash said his black
clothing symbolized the downtrodden people in the world. Cash had
been "The Man in Black" since he joined the Grand Ole Opry
at age 25.
"Everybody was wearing rhinestones, all those sparkle
clothes and cowboy boots," he said in 1986. "I decided to wear a
black shirt and pants and see if I could get by with it. I
did and I've worn black clothes ever since."
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 as a custodian and enlisted in the Air Force,
learning guitar while stationed in Germany, before launching
his music career after his 1954 discharge.
"All through the Air Force, I was so lonely for those three
years," Cash told The Associated Press during a 1996
interview. "If I couldn't have sung all those old country songs,
I don't think I could have made it."
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.
Sun Records also launched the careers of Presley, Roy
Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis and others.
"Folsom Prison Blues," went to No. 4 on the country charts
in 1956, and featured Cash's most famous couplet: "I shot a
man in Reno/ just to watch him die."
Cash recorded theme albums celebrating the railroads and
the Old West, and decrying the mistreatment of American
Indians. Two of his most popular albums were recorded live at
prisons. Along the way he notched 14 No. 1 country music
hits.
Because of Cash's frequent performances in prisons and his
rowdy lifestyle early in his career, many people wrongly
thought he had served prison time. He never did, though he
battled addictions to pills on and off throughout his life.
He blamed fame for his vulnerability to drug addiction.
"When I was a kid, I always knew I'd sing on the radio
someday. I never thought about fame until it started happening
to me," he said in 1988. "Then it was hard to handle.
That's why I turned to pills."
He credited June Carter Cash, whom he married in 1968, with
helping him stay off drugs, though he had several relapses
over the years and was treated at the Betty Ford Center in
California in 1984.
June Carter Cash was the daughter of country music great
Mother Maybelle Carter, and the mother of singer Carlene
Carter, whose father was country singer Carl Smith. Together,
June Carter and Cash had one child, John Carter Cash. He is
a musician and producer.
Singer Rosanne Cash is Johnny Cash's daughter from his
first marriage, to Vivian Liberto. Their other three children
were Kathleen, Cindy and Tara. They divorced in 1966.
In March 1998, Cash made headlines when his
California-based record company, American Recordings, took out an
advertisement in the music trade magazine Billboard. The full-page
ad celebrated Cash's 1998 Grammy award for best country
album for "Unchained." The ad showed an enraged-looking Cash
in his younger years making an obscene gesture to
sarcastically illustrate his thanks to country radio stations and
"the country music establishment in Nashville," which he felt
had unfairly cast him aside.
Jennings, a close friend, once said of Cash: "He's been
like a brother to me. He's one of the greatest people in the
world."
Cash once credited his mother, Carrie Rivers Cash, with
encouraging him to pursue a singing career.
"My mother told me to keep on singing, and that kept me
working through the cotton fields. She said God has his hand
on you. You'll be singing for the world someday."
Cash lived in Hendersonville, Tenn., just outside of
Nashville. He also had a home in Jamaica.