- Country music legend Johnny Cash
passed away early Friday in a hospital in Nashville, Tennesee, CNN said
quoting a hospital spokesman. He was 71.
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- Cash died at 2:00 am "due to complications from
diabetes which resulted in respiratory failure," spokesman Nicole
Base for Baptist Hospital said.
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- She said family members were at his bedside when Cash
passed away. Cash was released from the same hospital on Tuesday, after
spending three weeks there for treatment of pancreatitis.
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- His manager Lou Robin said at the time that Cash was
finishing an album with songs written after his wife June Carter Cash,
also a country singer, died in May. She was 73
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- http://sify.com/peopleandplaces/fullstory.php?id=13249804&vsv=46
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- Comment
- From Mark Urban
- mcurb@hotmail.com
- 9-13-3
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- Jeff,
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- The Death of Johnny Cash marks the loss of a truly great,
deep soul. The video with the Nine Inch Nails cover was haunting and sad
yet powerful.
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- A while back, BMW Films produced a short called Race
With The Devil in which the James Brown seeks to renegotiate his contract
with the devil because it never addressed the "aging" question.
Brown in that patois that is almost indecipherable says he can no longer
do the leg splits and he CAN'T SCARE THE KIDS.
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- Johnny Cash whose weatherbeaten,
drug ravaged visage was barely able to lip sync to the music was indeed
able to SCARE THE KIDS: There was no life affirming message in the song,
only regret. In many sections of the video, his famous C&W singer spouse
looks on - she died in may'03 and it is very eerie. When Cash pours the
glass of wine over the feast laid out on the dining table, he mocks of
any sense of congratulation for his life's work. He dines alone. He apologises
for the pain he caused those who were unfortunate enough to have loved
him - no pity, no artifice, just a genuine, unadulterated message straight
from the heart from a man who knows he isn't long for this world. No person
can watch the video and not be moved.
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- Cash's voice and musical sense had a power and simplicity
that transcended race, age and gender.
- That voice was an instrument from God much like a prophet's
vision - a blessing and a burden at the same time.
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- I will miss Jonny Cash.
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- He was great man and a greater soul.
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- Johnny Cash was one of the most imposing and influential
figures in post-World War II country music. With his deep, resonant baritone
and spare, percussive guitar, he had a basic, distinctive sound. Cash didn't
sound like Nashville, nor did he sound like honky tonk or rock & roll.
He created his own sub-genre, falling halfway between the blunt emotional
honesty of folk, the rebelliousness of rock & roll, and the world weariness
of country. Cash's career coincided with the birth of rock & roll,
and his rebellious attitude and simple, direct musical attack shared a
lot of similarities with rock. However, there was a deep sense of history
-- as he would later illustrate with his series of historical albums --
that kept him forever tied with country. And he was one of country music's
biggest stars of the '50s and '60s, scoring well over 100 hit singles.
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- Johnny Cash was born and raised in Arkansas, moving to
Dyess when he was three. By the time he was 12 years old, Cash had begun
writing his own songs. Johnny was inspired by the country songs he had
heard on the radio. While he was in high school, he sang on the Arkansas
radio station KLCN. Johnny Cash graduated from college in 1950, moving
to Detroit to work in an auto factory for a brief while. With the outbreak
of the Korean War, he enlisted in the Air Force. While he was in the Air
Force, Cash bought his first guitar and taught himself to play. He began
writing songs in earnest, including "Folsom Prison Blues." Cash
left the Air Force in 1954, married a Texas woman named Vivian Leberto,
and moved to Memphis, where he took a radio announcing course at a broadcasting
school on the GI Bill. During the evenings, he played country music in
a trio that also consisted of guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall
Grant. The trio occasionally played for free on a local radio station,
KWEM, and tried to secure gigs and an audition at Sun Records.
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- Cash finally landed an audition with Sun Records and
its founder, Sam Phillips, in 1955. Initially, Cash presented himself as
a gospel singer, but Phillips turned him down. Phillips asked him to come
back with something more commercial. Cash returned with "Hey Porter,"
which immediately caught Phillips' ear. Soon, Cash released "Cry Cry
Cry"/"Hey Porter" as his debut single for Sun. On the single,
Phillips billed Cash as "Johnny" which upset the singer, because
he felt it sounded too young; the record producer also dubbed Perkins and
Grant the Tennessee Two. "Cry Cry Cry" became a success upon
its release in 1955, entering the country charts at number 14 and leading
to a spot on the Louisiana Hayride, where he stayed for nearly a year.
A second single, "Folsom Prison Blues," reached the country Top
Five in early 1956 and its follow-up, "I Walk the Line," was
number one for six weeks and crossed over into the pop Top 20.
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- Johnny Cash had an equally successful year in 1957, scoring
several Top Ten country hits including the Top 15 "Give My Love to
Rose." Cash also made his Grand Ole Opry debut that year, appearing
all in black where the other performers were decked out in flamboyant,
rhinestone-studded outfits. Eventually, he earned the nickname of "The
Man in Black." Cash became the first Sun artist to release a long-playing
album in November of 1957, when Johnny Cash With His Hot and Blue Guitar
hit the stores. Cash's success continued to roll throughout 1958, as he
earned his biggest hit, "Ballad of a Teenage Queen" (number one
for ten weeks), as well another number one single, "Guess Things Happen
That Way." For most of 1958, Cash attempted to record a gospel album,
but Sun refused to allow him to record one. Sun also was unwilling to increase
Cash's record royalties. Both of these were deciding factors in the vocalist's
decision to sign with Columbia Records in 1958. By the end of the year,
he had released his first single for the label, "All Over Again,"
which became another Top Five success. Sun continued to release singles
and albums of unissued Cash material into the '60s.
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- "Don't Take Your Guns to Town," Cash's second
single for Columbia, was one of his biggest hits, reaching the top of the
country charts and crossing over into the pop charts in the beginning of
1959. Throughout that year, Columbia and Sun singles vied for the top of
the charts. Generally, the Columbia releases -- "Frankie's Man Johnny,"
"I Got Stripes," and "Five Feet High and Rising" --
fared better than the Sun singles, but "Luther Played the Boogie"
did climb into the Top Ten. That same year, Cash had the chance to make
his gospel record -- Hymns by Johnny Cash -- which kicked off a series
of thematic albums that ran into the '70s.
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- The Tennessee Two became the Tennessee Three in 1960
with the addition of drummer W.S. Holland. Though he was continuing to
have hits, the relentless pace of his career was beginning to take a toll
on Cash. In 1959, he had begun taking amphetamines to help him get through
his schedule of nearly 300 shows a year. By 1961, his drug intake had increased
dramatically and his work was affected, which was reflected by a declining
number of hit singles and albums. By 1963, he had moved to New York, leaving
his family behind. He was running into trouble with the law, most notably
for starting a forest fire out West.
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- June Carter -- who was the wife of one of Cash's drinking
buddies, Carl Smith -- would provide Cash with his return to the top of
the charts with "Ring of Fire," which she co-wrote with Merle
Kilgore. "Ring of Fire" spent seven weeks on the top of the charts
and was a Top 20 pop hit. Cash continued his success in 1964, as "Understand
Your Man" became a number one hit. However, Cash's comeback was short-lived,
as he sank further into addiction and his hit singles arrived sporadically.
Cash was arrested in El Paso for attempting to smuggle amphetamines into
the country through his guitar case in 1965. That same year, the Grand
Ole Opry refused to have him perform and he wrecked the establishment's
footlights. In 1966, his wife Vivian filed for divorce. After the divorce,
Cash moved to Nashville. At first, he was as destructive as he ever had
been, but he became close friends with June Carter, who had divorced Carl
Smith. With Carter's help, he was able to shake his addictions; she also
converted Cash to fundamentalist Christianity. His career began to bounce
back as "Jackson" and "Rosanna's Going Wild" became
Top Ten hits. Early in 1968, Cash proposed marriage to Carter during a
concert; the pair were married in the spring of 1968.
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- In 1968, Johnny Cash recorded and released his most popular
album, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. Recorded during a prison concert,
the album spawned the number one country hit "Folsom Prison Blues,"
which also crossed over into the pop charts. By the end of the year, the
record had gone gold. The following year, he released a sequel, Johnny
Cash at San Quentin, which had his only Top Ten pop single, "A Boy
Named Sue," which peaked at number three; it also hit number one on
the country charts. Johnny Cash guested on Bob Dylan's 1969 country-rock
album, Nashville Skyline. Dylan returned the favor by appearing on the
first episode of The Johnny Cash Show, the singer's television program
for ABC. The Johnny Cash Show ran for two years, between 1969 and 1971.
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- Johnny Cash was reaching a second peak of popularity
in 1970. In addition to his television show, he performed for President
Richard Nixon at the White House, acted with Kirk Douglas in The Gunfight,
sang with John Willams and the Boston Pops Orchestra, and he was the subject
of a documentary film. His record sales were equally healthy, as "Sunday
Morning Coming Down" and "Flesh and Blood" were number one
hits. Throughout 1971, Cash continued to have hits, including the Top Three
"Man in Black." Both Cash and Carter became more socially active
in the early '70s, campaigning for the civic rights of Native-Americans
and prisoners, as well as frequently working with Billy Graham.
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- In the mid-'70s, Cash's presence on the country charts
began to decline, but he continued to have a series of minor hits and the
occasional chart topper like 1976's "One Piece at a Time," or
Top Ten hits like the Waylon Jennings duet "There Ain't No Good Chain
Gang" and "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky." -Man in Black, Johnny
Cash's autobiography, was published in 1975. In 1980, Johnny Cash became
the youngest inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame. However, the '80s
were a rough time for Cash, as his record sales continued to decline and
he ran into trouble with Columbia. Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis
teamed up to record The Survivors in 1982, which was a mild success. The
Highwaymen -- a band featuring Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and
Kris Kristofferson -- released their first album in 1985, which was also
moderately successful. The following year, Cash and Columbia Records ended
their relationship and he signed with Mercury Nashville. The new label
didn't prove to be a success, as the company and the singer fought over
stylistic direction. Furthermore, country radio had begun to favor more
contemporary artists, and Cash soon found himself shut out of the charts.
Nevertheless, he continued to be a popular concert performer.
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- The Highwaymen recorded a second album in 1992 and it
was more commercially successful than any of Cash's Mercury records. Around
that time, his contract with Mercury ended. In 1993, he signed a contract
with American Records. His first album for the label, American Recordings,
was produced by the label's founder, Rick Rubin, and was a stark, acoustic
collection of songs. American Recordings, while not a blockbuster success,
revived his career critically and brought him in touch with a younger,
rock-oriented audience. In 1995, the Highwaymen released their third album,
The Road Goes on Forever. The following year, Johnny Cash released his
second album for American Records, Unchained, which featured support from
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. His VH-1 Storytellers outing was released
in 1998, and in the spring of 2000 Cash compiled Love, God, Murder, a three-disc
retrospective focusing on the major songwriting themes dominant throughout
his career. The new studio album American III: Solitary Man appeared later
that year. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
- http://www.livedaily.com/artist/bio/48.html
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