John R. "Johnny" Cash (1932 – 2003) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and author who is known as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. Cash was also known for his deep, calm bass-baritone voice, the distinctive sound of his Tennessee Three backing band by train-like chugging guitar rhythms, a rebelliousness, free prison concerts, all-black stage wardrobe, which earned him the nickname "The Man in Black".
Martin honors Johnny Cash with all-black DX acoustic guitar
New mid-priced model designed in collaboration with John Carter Cash. Martin has unveiled the DX Johnny Cash, an all-black, a mid-priced acoustic guitar that commemorates the Man in Black. Cash was famously the recipient of the first-ever black-finished Martin model when he requested a black-lacquered D-35 in the early-’70s, and this new model pays tribute to that iconic look.
Johnny’s son, John Carter Cash, was involved in the design of the new instrument, which features a Dreadnought body shape with jet-black high-pressure laminate top, back and sides. Other unique touches include a custom fingerboard inlaid with stars and the ‘CASH’ logo, with Cash’s signature appearing on the rosette and label. Fishman MX electronics and a ‘CASH’ embroidered gigbag are also included.
Famous for
- American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and author
- Best-selling music artists of all time
- His songs such as "I Walk the Line", "Ring of Fire", "Get Rhythm", and "Man in Black".
Where was Johnny Cash born?
Johnny Cash was born on February 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas. He holds an American nationality and belongs to mixed ethnicity. His birth name is J.R.Cash with the birth sign of Pisces and was born to his father Ray Cash and mother Carrie Cloveree. He was the fourth of seven children, who were in birth order: Roy, Margaret Louise, Jack, J. R., Reba, Joanne, and Tommy. He got settled with his family when he was 3 years old in Dyess, Arkansas, a New Deal colony established to give poor families the opportunity to work land that they may later own. Cash started working in cotton fields with his family, singing with them at the age of 5. His farm in Dyess experienced a flood, which led Cash later to write the song "Five Feet High and Rising". His family's economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.
Besides, he started playing guitar since his childhood which was taught by his mother and began writing songs at the age of 12. Also, he sang on a local radio station when he was in high school. However, Cash attended Dyess High Scool and graduated from Gardener Webb College in 1971. Later he joined National University in San Diego in 1975.
How tall is Johnny cash?
Johnny Cash stands the height of 6ft 2in tall with a weight of 86 kg. Moreover, He used to wear a shoe size of 12(US0 and a dress size of 9(US). Additionally, he had a fair complexion with brown eyes and black hair color.
Career of Johnny Cash
- Cash started his career in the United States Air Force on July 7, 1950.
- After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, Cash was assigned to the 12th Radio Squadron Mobile of the U.S. Air Force Security Service at Landsberg, Germany.
- On July 3, 1954, he was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant, and he returned to Texas.
- In 1954, Cash moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to be a radio announcer
- Cash worked up the courage to visit the Sun Records studio, hoping to get a recording contract. He also auditioned for Sam Phillips by singing mostly gospel songs.
- Cash eventually won over the producer with new songs delivered in his early rockabilly style
- In 1955, Cash made his first recordings at Sun, "Hey Porter" and "Cry! Cry! Cry!", which were released in late June and met with success on the country hit parade.
- Cash's next record, "Folsom Prison Blues", made the country top five and his "I Walk the Line" became number one on the country charts and entered the pop charts top 20.
- Cash became the first Sun artist to release a long-playing album.
- In 1958, Cash left Phillips to sign a lucrative offer with Columbia Records.
- His single "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" became one of his biggest hits, and he recorded a collection of gospel songs for his second album for Columbia.
- In the 1960s, he appeared on Pete Seeger's short-lived television series Rainbow Quest.
- He also acted in, and wrote and sang the opening theme for, a 1961 film entitled Five Minutes to Live, later re-released as Door-to-door Maniac.
- As his career was taking off in the late 1950s, Cash started drinking heavily and became addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates.
- Although he was in out of control, Cash could still deliver hits due to his frenetic creativity. His rendition of "Ring of Fire" was a crossover hit, reaching number one on the country charts and entering the top 20 on the pop charts.
- In this period of the mid-1960s, Cash released a number of concept albums. His Bitter Tears (1964)
- Cash began using amphetamines again in 1977. By 1983, he became deeply addicted again and became a patient at the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage for treatment.
- Cash began performing concerts at prisons in the late 1950s.
- He played his first famous prison concert on January 1, 1958, at San Quentin State Prison.
- These performances led to a pair of highly successful live albums, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and Johnny Cash at San Quentin (1969).
- Cash performed at the Osteraker Prison in Sweden in 1972. The live album Pa Osteraker (At Osteraker) was released in 1973.
- In 1964, coming off the chart success of his previous album "I Walk The Line", he recorded the aforementioned album Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian.
- The album's single, "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" (about Ira Hayes, one of the six to raise the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima), was neglected by non-political radio at the time but Cash kept promoting the song himself and used his influence on radio disc jockeys.
- From June 1969 to March 1971, Cash starred in his own television show, The Johnny Cash Show, on the ABC network.
- By the early 1970s, he crystallized his public image as "The Man in Black". He regularly performed dressed all in black, wearing a long, black, knee-length coat.
- In 1971, Cash wrote the song "Man in Black" to help explain his dress code.
- In the mid-1970s, Cash's popularity and the number of hit songs began to decline. He made commercials for Amoco and STP, an unpopular enterprise at the time of the 1970s energy crisis.
- In 1976, he made commercials for Lionel Trains, for which he also wrote the music.
- His first autobiography, Man in Black, was published in 1975 and sold 1.3 million copies.
- He continued to appear on television, hosting Christmas specials on CBS in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
- He was also cast on the starring role in an episode of Columbo, entitled "Swan Song".
- In 1980, Cash became the Country Music Hall of Fame's youngest living inductee at age 48.
- In the mid-1980s, he recorded and toured with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson as The Highwaymen, making three hit albums, which were released beginning with the originally titled Highwayman in 1985, followed by Highwaymen 2 in 1990.
- In 1981, he starred in The Pride of Jesse Hallam, winning fine reviews for a film that called attention to adult illiteracy.
- In 1983, he appeared as a heroic sheriff in Murder in Coweta County, based on a real-life Georgia murder case.
- Cash relapsed into addiction after being administered painkillers for a serious abdominal injury in 1983. Cash later claimed that during his operation, he had what is called a "near-death experience".
- In 1984, Cash released a self-parody recording titled "Chicken in Black" .
- After more unsuccessful recordings were released between 1984–85, Cash left Columbia and In 1986 and returned to Sun Studios in Memphis to team up with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins to create the album Class of '55.
- Also in 1986, Cash published his only novel, Man in White, a book about Saul and his conversion to become the Apostle Paul.
- After Columbia Records, he had a short and unsuccessful stint with Mercury Records from 1987 to 1991.
- In 1996, Cash enlisted the accompaniment of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and released Unchained (also known as American Recordings II), which won the Best Country Album Grammy in 1998.
- In 1997, Cash was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease Shy–Drager syndrome, a form of multiple system atrophy. The diagnosis was later again altered to autonomic neuropathy associated with diabetes and was hospitalized in 1998.
- During the last stage of his career, Cash released the albums American III: Solitary Man (2000) and American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002).
- American IV included cover songs by several late 20th-century rock artists, notably "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails and "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode
- The video for "Hurt" received critical and popular acclaim, including a Grammy Award.
- Cash continued to record until shortly before his death. His final recordings were made on August 21, 2003, and consisted of "Like the 309", which appeared on American V: A Hundred Highways in 2006.
- The final song he completed, "Engine 143", was recorded for his son John Carter Cash for a planned Carter Family tribute album.
Johnny Cash is married twice in his life. He was first married to Italian-American Vivian Liberto. The couple first met on July 18, 1951, while in Air Force training and got married On August 7, 1954, at St. Ann's Roman Catholic Church in San Antonio. They had four daughters: Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy, and Tara. The couple was having a good time together until Liberto filed for divorce in 1966 because of Cash's severe drug and alcohol abuse, as well as constant touring, affairs with other women and his close relationship with June Carter.
Later, Cash married to singer June Carter. Cash mt June Carter on a tour where both became infatuated with each other. In 1968, after 13 years of knowing each other, Cash proposed to June, during a live performance in London, Ontario. Finally, they got married on March 1, 1968, in Franklin, Kentucky. They also had one child together, John Carter Cash, born March 3, 1970. Additionally, he also became step-father to Carlene and Rosie; June’s daughters from her first two marriages. His wife June always remained with him even throughout his multiple admissions for rehabilitation treatment and years of drug abuse. Cash and Carter continued to work, raise their child, create music, and tour together for 35 years until June's death in May 2003. After June's death, he became focused more on his music career rather than being in a relationship. Unfortunately, Cash died four months after his wife June did.
Death of Johnny Cash
Cash died of complications from diabetes around 2:00 am CT on September 12, 2003, aged 71 While being hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville. By the end of the 1980s, he had already undergone operations on his knees, heart, and jaw, and would be plagued with bad health right up to when he died. The problems were seen as payback by some, including Kris Kristofferson, for the years of abuse that Cash had subjected his body to with drugs and alcohol at various stages throughout his life. He died less than four months after his wife and was buried next to her in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Net worth of Johnny Cash
Multi-talented Johnny Cash had collected a good amount of money from his career as a singer, actor, and songwriter. His net worth is estimated to be around $60 million at the time of his death. He is known today for being one of the most influential musicians of all time.
