Home About Chat Users Issues Party Candidates Polling Firms Media News Polls Calendar Key Races United States President Senate House Governors International

New User Account
"A collaborative political resource." 
Email: Password:

  Cash, Johnny
  CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationIndependent   
NameJohnny Cash
Address
Hendersonville, Tennessee , United States
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born February 26, 1932
Died September 12, 2003 (71 years)
ContributorThomas Walker
Last ModifedRBH
Feb 04, 2019 01:31am
Tags English - Scottish - Married - Widowed - Air Force - Christian -
InfoTo millions of fans, Johnny Cash is "the Man in Black," a country music legend who sings in an authoritative baritone about the travails of working men and the downtrodden in this country. Lesser known is the fact that Johnny Cash was present at the birth of rock and roll by virtue of being one of the earliest signees to Sam Phillips' Sun Records back in 1955. Cash was part of an elite club of rock and roll pioneers at Sun that included Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. The four were collectively referred to as "the Million Dollar Quartet" after an impromptu gathering and jam session at the Sun recording studio on December 4, 1956. What Cash and his group, the Tennessee Two, brought to the "Sun Sound" was a spartan mix of guitar, standup bass and vocals that served as an early example of rockabilly. Cash recorded a string of rockabilly hits for Sun that included "Cry, Cry, Cry," "Folsom Prison Blues" and "I Walk the Line." The latter was first of more than a dozen Number One country hits for Cash and also marked his first appearance on the national pop singles charts.
Straddling the country, folk and rockabilly idioms, Johnny Cash has crafted more than 400 plainspoken story-songs that describe and address the lives of coal miners, sharecroppers, Native Americans, prisoners, cowboys, renegades and family men. Cash came by his common touch honestly, having been born in Kingsland, Arkansas, during the Great Depression on February 26, 1932. At age three, he moved with his family to Dyess, Arkansas, where he worked the cotton fields. Cash's roaming days included laboring at an auto plant in Michigan, serving in the Air Force in Germany, and working as an appliance salesman in Memphis. Cash became a full-time musician after his two-sided hit -- "So Doggone Lonesome"/"Folsom Prison Blues" -- shot to Number Four on the Billboard country chart in 1956. From Sun, he jumped to Columbia Records in 1958, where he recorded such favorites as "Ring of Fire," "Understand Your Man," "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" and "Tennessee Flat-Top Box." But Cash never forgot his roots, nor did he leave hard times behind. A prototype for the black-clad rebel rocker, Cash cultivated a serious drug problem in the Sixties, which ended when he met his second wife, June Carter, whom he married in 1968.

Some of Cash's best work includes live albums recorded, quite literally, for captive audiences at Folsom and San Quentin prisons. Johnny Cash at San Quentin included the 1969 hit "A Boy Named Sue," which went to Number Two. In 1969, Cash cut a duet with Bob Dylan for the latter's Nashville Skyline, and Dylan returned the favor by appearing on The Johnny Cash Show, a successful TV variety hour that premiered in 1969. All the while, the rugged simplicity and uncut honesty of Cash's approach was steadily seeping into rock and roll by way of the burgeoning country-rock scene. Cash has remained a stalwart figure and working musician to the present day. His career received a shot in the arm in the mid-Nineties when he released what many consider to be his finest album to date, a stark study for guitar and voice entitled American Recordings.






February 26, 1932
Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, AR.

1955
Johnny Cash signs contract with Sun Records.

June 1, 1955
Sam Phillips signs aspiring country singer Johnny Cash and releases his debut single, "Cry! Cry! Cry!"/"Hey! Porter."

May 1, 1956
Sun releases John Cash's "I Walk the Line."

December 4, 1956
The "Million Dollar Quartet"�Presley, Perkins, Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis�records old gospel, country and pop songs at an impromptu session. The recordings aren't officially released until the mid-Eighties.

December 4, 1956
Four legendary past and present Sun Records recording artists�Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash�gather at Sun for an informal jam session. Later dubbed the Million Dollar Quartet, the stars (sans Cash, who stays only briefly) perform gospel standards and recent hits in relaxed, impromptu fashion.

January 1, 1958
Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash sign with Columbia Records. Perkins leaves Sun immediately, Cash leaves in August when his contract is up.

1992
Johnny Cash inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

*****

(CNN) -- He was a poor sharecropper's son from Kingsland, Arkansas, who sang to himself while picking cotton in the fields -- then later sang to millions through recordings, concerts and his late-'60s TV variety show.

He became a country music statesman who found a home with rap-rock producer Rick Rubin's American Recordings.

He was called the "Man in Black," who once sang "I shot a man in Reno/Just to watch him die," but opened his concerts with the friendly, modest greeting, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."

Johnny Cash -- legend, model, icon -- died Friday. He was 71.

Cash died of complications from diabetes at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, hospital spokeswoman Nicole Bates said. He had just been released Tuesday after entering the hospital August 28 with an undisclosed stomach ailment. He returned to the hospital Thursday.

Cash's wife of 35 years, June Carter Cash, died May 15.

His family was with him when he died, Bates said.

Lou Robin, Cash's manager, said in honor of the family's privacy, the visitation and funeral services for Cash will be private, although a public memorial is being planned.

"They wish to thank everyone for their prayers at this difficult time," Robin said in a statement.

The family also released a statement, saying it was "greatly comforted by the outpouring of love and respect for his wonderful life."

"We also take solace in the knowledge that he is again reunited with his dearest companion, June. Our lives and indeed the entire planet will forever feel the emptiness of his loss, but his music and the greatness of his spirit will endure," said the family statement, which was released through a publicist's office.

Perhaps the most widely recognized voice in country music, Cash recorded more than 1,500 songs. His career spanned more than four decades with trademark hits like "A Boy Named Sue," "Folsom Prison Blues, "Ring of Fire" and "I Walk the Line."

His success crossed well over onto the pop scene. He had 48 singles on Billboard's pop charts, rivaling both the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys.

His 11 Grammys included a lifetime achievement award and the 1998 Grammy for country album of the year ("Unchained"). It's said that more than 100 other recording artists and groups have recorded "I Walk the Line."

"Johnny Cash was not only a giant in our business, but he was one of those guys who had grown to become a cultural icon in America," Ed Benson, executive director of the Country Music Association, told WTVF-TV in Nashville. "People associated him with values that I think they held near and dear to their hearts."

"I am deeply saddened by the loss of my children's grandfather and my very dear friend," added singer and songwriter Rodney Crowell, who was once married to Cash's daughter Rosanne, in a statement. "I loved big John with all my heart. ... Johnny Cash will, like Will Rogers, stand forever as a symbol of intelligence, creativity, compassion and common sense."

'I don't think I could have made it'
A child of the Depression, J.R. Cash was born February 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas. Cash's parents took advantage of a New Deal farm program, moving their large family to Dyess Colony in northeast Arkansas. There they farmed cotton during the day and sang hymns on the porch at night.

When he was 12, his 14-year-old brother, Jack, died after an accident. Cash acknowledged the death had a profound impact on his music, and he noted it may have been once reason for his music's melancholy tinge.

After high school, he enlisted in the Air Force. The military wouldn't accept initials, so Cash chose John as his new first name. While stationed in Germany, Cash bought his first guitar and started a band.

"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."

When his hitch was over, Cash moved to Memphis where he sold appliances door-to-door while trying to break into the music business. In 1954, he auditioned for Sam Phillips at Sun Records, hoping to record some simple gospel songs. Instead, Phillips -- who had discovered Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis -- pushed Cash toward a more commercial sound.

Cash's first single, "Hey Porter," had a disappointing debut. But his follow-up, the 1955 "Cry, Cry, Cry," drew national attention. "Folsom Prison Blues" went into the Top Five in country singles in 1956, and "I Walk the Line" became Cash's first No. 1 country hit. In 1957, he made his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry. And by 1958, he'd published 50 songs, sold more than 6 million records and moved to the Columbia label.

It was at the Opry that Cash became known as "The Man in Black."

"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."

Hits, misses and comebacks

Cash in 1985. He never paid attention to the lines between musical genres -- and he made every song his own.
Through the late 1950s and into the 1960s, Cash continued to have huge hits, including "Don't Take Your Guns to Town," "I Got Stripes," "Ring of Fire," and "The Ballad of Ira Hayes." He toured worldwide and played free shows at prisons in the United States -- he first played San Quentin in 1958 when a young Merle Haggard was in the audience.

Living and working at a hectic pace, Cash became dependent on drugs. They took a toll on his career and ended his first marriage, to Vivian Liberto, in 1966. Fame, he said in 1988, "was hard to handle. That's why I turned to pills."

By 1967, Cash had overcome his addiction with the help of his singing partner, June Carter. Carter co-wrote (with Merle Kilgore) "Ring of Fire" about their early attraction; Cash made it his own.

"It's a sad day in Tennessee, but a great day in Heaven," said Kilgore in a statement about Cash's passing. "The 'Man in Black' is now wearing white as he joins his wife June in the angel band." Kilgore was best man at Cash's 1968 wedding to Carter.

Cash started making a comeback. By the end of the '60s, he owned the voice of country music. In the fall of 1969, he was considered by many to be the hottest act in the world, even outselling the Beatles. That year, his work accounted for 5 percent of all record sales in the U.S.

"The Johnny Cash Show" aired on ABC from 1969 to 1971 and featured guests as diverse as Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard, Joni Mitchell and Louis Armstrong.

In the 1970s, Cash continued to record, although his work became more progressive and less commercial. Having never given up his fondness for gospel music, Cash co-wrote (with Larry Murray) and produced a film based on the life of Jesus. "The Gospel Road" was released in 1973, with Cash providing narration and Carter in the role of Mary Magdelene.

Cash's 1975 autobiography, also called "Man in Black," sold 1.3 million copies.

In 1980, at 48, Cash became the Country Music Hall of Fame's youngest living inductee. He was part of the highly successful Highwaymen quartet with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. When drug problems returned with the use of pain killers, Cash entered the Betty Ford Clinic.

Late in the decade, Cash's radio popularity was fading -- a more contemporary sound was moving into country -- and he broke with Columbia. A new contract with Mercury Nashville didn't reflect his earlier success, but concert performances remained big sellers.

Hall of Fame inductee

Cash with his wife and frequent singing partner, June Carter Cash, in 1985. The pair had several hits together, including "Jackson."
In 1992, Cash was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1994, he became hot again with the release of the acoustic "American Recordings," featuring just Cash and his guitar on yet another label, Rick Rubin's American. The album landed him on the pages of Rolling Stone, People and Time.

Rubin, known for his production work with the Beastie Boys and Tom Petty, decided to let Cash be Cash -- no "countrypolitan" strings, no overly sweetened backup singers, no bull.

"When I signed with Rick's label about 10 years ago, I asked him what he would do with me that nobody else had done," Cash told The New York Times. "He said, 'I would like for you to sit in front of a microphone and sing every song you want to record.'

"I said, 'Whoa, that's a tall order. There are lots of songs over the years that I've wanted to do.' He said, 'Well, those are the ones that I want to hear.' "

So Cash's last four albums -- "American Recordings," "Unchained," "American III: Solitary Man" and "American IV: The Man Comes Around" -- were filled with songs by Tom Petty, Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Nick Lowe (his former stepson-in-law), along with old chestnuts and his own work.

One song from "American IV," a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt," was made into an arresting video by director Mark Romanek and nominated for several MTV Video Music Awards, including video of the year. It won only one -- for best cinematography -- but other winners, including Justin Timberlake, paid tribute to Cash at the show.

The singer was given a Kennedy Center Honors award in 1996 and was reported to have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1997. He also had Shy-Drager syndrome, a degenerative nerve disease that attacks the nervous system in much the same way as Parkinson's disease.

Cash had a somber image, but his songs were also full of fun and comedy. In "One Piece at a Time," he sang from the point of view of an auto assembly line worker who smuggled parts to make his own car -- one that had pieces of a " '51, '52, '53, '54" and on through the years. And Shel Silverstein's "A Boy Named Sue," which Cash took to No. 2 in 1969, was about a man who grew up hating his father because of his feminine name.

But, whether singing about outlaws of the Old West, murder and prison, unrequited love or simple pleasures, Cash sang in an unadorned, frank baritone about the plight of the common citizen. His was the voice of truth.

"My roots are in the working man," Cash told the Music City News in 1987. "I can remember very well how it is to pick cotton 10 hours a day, or to plow, or how to cut wood. I remember it so well because I don't intend to ever try to do it again."

Cash is survived by his children, Rosanne, Kathleen, Cindy, Tara and John Carter.

Free-lancer Mary Jo DiLonardo contributed to this story.




JOB APPROVAL POLLS
DateFirmApproveDisapproveDon't Know

BOOKS
Title Purchase Contributor

NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor

DISCUSSION
INFORMATION LINKS
RACES
ENDORSEMENTS
US President National Vote - Nov 04, 1980 D Jimmy Carter
TN District 4 - D Primary - Aug 05, 1976 D T. Tommy Cutrer
Get Firefox!