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Home , At San Quentin, A Boy Named Sue, Daddy Sang Bass, Grand Ole Opry, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash

(J. R. Cash) respiratory failure

Born: February 26, 1932

Died: September 12, 2003

Over the course of half a century, Johnny Cash created some of Cash classics. There was nothing showy or insincere about Johnny the most enduring American popular music ever recorded. That Cash—as demonstrated by his sober stage attire, which earned his last recordings are regarded as some of his finest is testament to him the appellation “The Man in .” “I wore black because the depth of an outstanding talent. I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me,” His background was the humblest—the fourth of five children he revealed in 1997. “It’s still my symbol of rebellion—against born into a country shack in , with no electricity a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, (he discovered via a battery-powered radio), against people whose minds are closed to others’ ideas.” though somehow his parents financed singing lessons for the boy. After moving to in 1958, Cash embraced Recalled childhood friend Merline Hall, “It was not a false voice… country music, a regular on the , when he sang, he meant every word he sang.” and later enjoying hits with the -flavored “” and a cover of ’s “It Ain’t Me Babe.” He had plenty of “[Wearing black] is still my symbol personal demons, though: “Back [in the early ] he was so deeply into the that he had lost an awful lot of of rebellion... against people whose weight,” recalled country music writer Jack Hurst, “He looked like a minds are closed.” wraith, but a powerful wraith.” Cash was arrested for possession of amphetamines in 1965, and his to the drug came close Cash learned to play guitar while stationed with the Air Force to destroying his health. in Germany. Discharged in 1954, he initially worked as a door-to- By the late 1960s, Cash’s career was going from strength to door salesman, but music drew him back. He formed country/ strength, with an ABC TV show and country-pop hits such as gospel group The Three, though after their steel guitarist “” (featuring future wife June Carter, of country dropped out, they turned . royalty the ) and the novelty “,” his ’s stripped-down sound, and Cash’s gritty, deep voice, bestseller. The later was taken from his live impressed (owner of the label Elvis recorded for, Sun (1969), one of two renowned records recorded in prison (the other Records). Starting in 1955 they scored a number of hits on Sun, was at Folsom) that reinforced Cash’s image as a down-to- including “Folsom Prison ” (inspired by a film Cash had seen man of the people—whether those people were locked up or not. in Germany, Inside The Walls Of Folsom Prison) and “I Walk The (“He’s as comfortable with the poor and prisoners as he is with Line”—both slow, thoughtfully expressed numbers, soon to become presidents,” once remarked.)

Right Cash onstage at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, 1966.

218 Robert Palmer (robert allen palmer) Cash rather lost his way during the and 1980s, and heart attack it wasn’t until the early 1990s that he experienced his artistic renaissance, with the help of Def Jam Records’ . Rubin had put out the first Beastie Boys album and produced the Born: January 19, 1949 , but his work with Cash was the antithesis of those high-octane releases. Four in the “American Died: September 26, 2003 Recordings” series were released during the last years of Cash’s life, each featuring stripped-down covers of contemporary songs and reinterpretations of old-time standards. Cash’s was By the time he hit commercial paydirt in the 1980s, Robert Palmer was too good to be true…He was too smart, too cute, and dared weaker now, and prone to cracking, but still arresting. had paid his dues many times over. Born in England’s Batley in to live abroad in the Bahamas!” In the acclaimed video for Cash’s moving take on Nine Inch Yorkshire, Palmer was raised in Malta (where his serviceman father Success remained strictly modest until a 1985 collaboration with ex- Nails’ “Hurt,” is visibly distressed at the sight of was stationed), then returned to Yorkshire, joined his first band— Durannies and Chic-ers in supergroup Power Station, and the release her ailing husband. Ironically, his wife passed away before Cash, in the curiously monikered Mandrake Paddle Steamer—and studied of his own Riptide of the same year, which saw Palmer go platinum. May 2003—a body blow from which he never recovered, though graphic design. Moving to London in 1969, he sang with The Alan The runaway success had much to do with the slickly sexy Terence he resolutely pushed on with recording sessions. Bown Set, then blues-rockers Vinegar Joe. Donovan-directed video for Grammy-winning single “Addicted Weakened by years of drug dependency, Cash had undergone Palmer’s subsequent solo career reflected his love of blues and To Love” (Billboard No. 1)—in which Palmer was backed by leggy double-heart-bypass surgery (in 1988) and suffered from diabetes; R&B. On debut Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley (1974), produced lovelies in tight-fitting black dresses; like follow-up “I Didn’t Mean To he was also diagnosed with the fatal neurological disease Shy- by Little Feat’s Lowell George, he was backed by mighty New Turn You On,” it sold a million copies. He’d come a long way from Drager syndrome in 1998 and was prescribed medication, but the Orleans funksters . His sophisticated look (that of a those gritty blues roots, to which he finally returned for 2003’sDrive . diagnosis proved incorrect and he had to wean himself off the slightly smug hairdresser to the stars) seemed somewhat at odds While visiting Paris with his partner, Mary Ambrose, Palmer died drugs. He claimed that a dentist had once broken his jaw during with his musical loves, though. “The media never really liked him, suddenly from a heart attack. He was buried in Lugano, the Swiss city treatment but never fixed it, leaving him with the choice of having they didn’t trust him,” reflected future bandmate John Taylor. “He that had become his home. surgery (which might prevent him singing again) or a life on pain- killers. He stuck with the pain. Johnny Cash was admitted to ’s Baptist Hospital in September 2003, following an attack of pancreatitis, and subsequently released, but three days later he died from respiratory failure, a result of complications arising from diabetes. His spirit remained undimmed to the last, though. In 2002, television talk show host Larry King asked Cash whether there was a cure for his illness. “No, I don’t think so,” came the reply. “But that’s all right. There’s no cure for life either.”

Right Cash onstage in New York LEFT Palmer onstage performing in 1992. “Addicted To Love.”

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