Johnny Cash

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Biography

Recent Role:
Himself (Footage) on CMT Insider
Gender:
Male
Born:
2-26-1932
Died:
9-12-2003 (Complications from diabetes (Nashville, Tennessee))
Birthplace:
Kingsland, Arkansas
Birth Name:
John R. Cash
AKA:
The Man in Black, J. R. Cash
The son of Southern Baptist sharecroppers, Cash began playing guitar and writing songs at age 12. He performed frequently on radio station KLCN in Blytheville, Arkansas. Cash moved to Detroit in his late teens and worked there until he joined the Air Force as a radio operator in Germany. He left the Air Force and married Vivian Liberto in 1954; the couple settled in Memphis, where Cash sold appliances and attended radio announcers' school. With the Tennessee Two -- guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant -- he began recording for Sam Phillips' Sun Records in 1955. The trio… More recorded "Cry, Cry, Cry" #14 in 1955, and followed it with "Folsom Prison Blues" #5 in 1956. Later in 1956 came Cash's most enduring hit, the million-seller: "I Walk the Line" #17 in 1956.


Cash moved near Ventura, California in 1958, and signed with Columbia. He released a number of successful country and pop hits, among them "Ring of Fire" #1 in 1963, written by June Carter of the Carter Family and Merle Kilgare. By then, he had left his family and moved to New York's Greenwich Village. After a serious auto accident and a near fatal overdose, his wife divorced him. By then Cash had moved to Nashville, where he became friends with Waylon Jennings. Not long after his arrival in Nashville, Cash began a liaison with June Carter, who helped him get rid of his drug habit by 1967 and reconverted him to fundamentalist Christianity. By the time Cash and Carter married in early 1968, they had begun working together regularly. They had hit duets with "Jackson" #2 in 1967, "Long-Legged Guitar Pickin' Man" #6 in 1967, and versions of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me, Babe" #4 in 1964 and Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" #2 in 1970. Cash's 1968 live album, "At Folsom Prison" #13, became a million-seller in 1968. Cash had a 1969 hit with Shel Silverstein's "A Boy Named Sue" #2, a track from Johnny Cash at San Quentin, his bestselling album. The live LB was #1 for four weeks.





In 1970 Cash performed at the Nixon White House. He and June Carter traveled to Israel in 1971 to make a documentary, "Gospel Road." Cash continued to tour and make hits including "A Thing Called Love" #2 in 1972 and "One Piece at a Time" #1 in 1976. He also became active in benefit work, particularly on behalf of prisoners, Native American rights, and evangelist Billy Graham's organization.





Three years later Cash hooked up with three other campadres -- Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson -- to form the Highwaymen, releasing Highwayman in 1985. The Highwaymen performed together sporadically throughout the late Eighties
and Nineties, recording Highwayman 2 in 1990. They released The Road Goes On Forever produced by Don Was, in 1995. Throughout these years, Cash turned to acting, in a slew of Western-themed movies and TV shows. He also suffered from health problems, and underwent heart surgery and drug treatment for an addiction to painkillers. Already a member of the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame Cash has more than 400 songs to his credit and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Cash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Also later that year came the release of the critically acclaimed boxed set, "The Essential Johnny Cash." Johnny passed away in 2003 due to health complications only a few months after his beloved soul mate June died.

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  •  
    10 Perfect
    classic hide show

    I love Johnny Cash. He's just one of those legendary singers that everyone has heard of. When you mention Johnny Cash people don't ask, "Who's he?" He's a legend. I think he was one of the best singers that ever lived. He has so many famous good songs. And they're all so catchy! It's hard to choose but I think I'd have to say Folsom Prison Blues is my favorite song that he sang. He has such a distinctive voice. You could recognize it anywhere. Anyways, Johnny Cash was, is, and will always be a legend to me and the entire world.

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    LOSTismylife Added Dec 24, 2007 All my reviews
  •  
    10 Perfect
    Can never be replaced ... hide show

    Johnny was the King of cool. The look, the voice, the personality. I have so much respect for the man not only as a performer, but as a human being.
    He went through so much in his life, but with his family and the love of God Johnny made it past obstacles that would have made a weaker man fall even further into the abyss.

    Johnny is truly missed.

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    xGowronx Added Jan 24, 2006 All my reviews
  •  
    10 Perfect
    WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE US!!!!! hide show

    Me and my dad would go work in the garage listening to his greatest hits. I said would he make some new songs, well he did make more songs, but then passed away, many were friends of him, some hated his music, but if the world hated his music even if it was now, hed still be with me, i can tell. He can be with anyone, If anyone passed away and youd say "Hes never coming back". You couldnt be more wrong, if you respected him so much, hes always in your heart. You may not see him or hear him, hes not a scary ghost you would see in a movie or a screensaver, I can always hear him singing somewhere not as a ghost, but as a freed soul just to say "Thanks for supporting me all the way through, from when i was starting to be a star, to the greates above them all.".... It puts me to sleep at night. I am not lying.

    End Transmission

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    _DoomSX_ Added Jun 20, 2005 All my reviews
 

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