Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash's music connected with audiences across six decades because it was rebellious, wise, and deeply personal. Born in Kingsland, Arkansas in 1932, Cash started writing songs when he was only twelve years old. While serving in the Air Force during the Korean War, Cash bought his first guitar and wrote his first big hit, "Folsom Prison Blues". As with so many others, Cash's career began with Sam Phillips and Sun Records. It was Phillips who called him Johnny, which Cash thought made him sound too young. Still, the nickname stuck and so did the hits. Cash's combination of gospel, rockabilly, country, and a bit of soul produced songs such as "I Walk the Line", "Give My Love to Rose", "Ballad of a Teenage Queen", "All Over Again", "Understand Your Man", "A Boy Named Sue" - over 100 hits on the country or pop charts. His second wife, June Carter - whom he proposed to during a concert - co-wrote with Merle Kilgore one of Cash's signature songs, "Ring of Fire". The television show (The Johnny Cash Show) for ABC, the bio pic (Walk the Line) starring Joaquin Phoenix, and a Broadway musical (Ring of Fire), have all tried to capture "The Man in Black." Cash died in 2003, just four months after June's death. Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and presented with Lincoln Center's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 and the National Medal of Arts in 2001, Johnny Cash is an icon of American music.
