From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Feb 26, 2002  1:18 am  - UPDATED 6 JANUARY 2004
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Johnny Cash
 
JOHNNY CASH (By Shaun Mather)

Born J.R. Cash, 26 February 1932, Kingsland, Arkansas
Died 12 September 2003, Nashville TN

Johnny Cash is one of the great figures in American history, not just music.
A true humanitarian, he stands up for everyone from the blue collar worker
to the Native American Indians. He grew up in the poor cotton town of
Dyess, Arkansas, where he endured hard but rewarding times with his family
of sharecroppers. At 18 he tried his hand in a car factory in Detroit
before enlisting in the US Air Force where he began to show an interest in
music. He left the Air Force in 1954 and moved with his wife Vivian to
Memphis where he was soon introduced to two garage mechanics, Luther Perkins
(guitar) and Marshall Grant (bass). They formed a little country band and
wound up on Sun Records as Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two. The debut
single Cry,Cry,Cry c/w Hey Porter hit the country charts and the following
singles Folsom Prison Blues and I Walk The Line getting progressively
bigger. In November '57, the album Johnny Cash With His Hot And Blue Guitar
became the label's first long player. The following year saw him enjoy two
more big hits in Ballad Of A Teenage Queen and Guess Things Happen That Way.

A difference of opinion with Sun owner Sam Phillips over royalties and a
gospel album resulted in Cash joining Columbia. The first single for
Columbia was a hit as were most of the follow-ups including I Got Stripes
and Five Feet High And Rising. Touring was taking its toll and Johnny soon
wound up with an addiction for amphetamines which caused a slump in his
career. A 1968 marriage to June Carter together with the hugely successful
JC at Folsom Prison live album returned him to the top. A live album from
San Quentin and an ABC tv series, further emphasised the renaissance. 

In
1980 he bacame the youngest member of the Country Music Hall Of Fame and
later became the first person to be inducted to the Country and Rock And
Roll HoF's. The last few decades have also seen him collaborate on albums
with celebrated guests, such as Survivors (Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl
Perkins), the Highwaymen (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris
Kristofferson) and Class Of '55 (Lewis, Perkins and Roy Orbison). In 1986
he was unceremoniously shown the door by Columbia and joined Mercury, but
despite some interesting stuff, the albums weren't overly successful. That
changed with his move to Rick Rubin's American Recordings label which has
seen Johnny Cash return to the top with three critically acclaimed albums
that have enabled him to reach a new younger audience. Today Johnny is an
unwell man who is constantly fighting Shy Draggers (a form of Parkinson's
Disease) and pneumonia. His back catalogue is a mountain of wonderful
music, touching rock 'n' roll, country, gospel and folk.

Further reading:
Christopher Wren, Winners got scars too : the life and legends of Johnny
Cash. New York : Dial Press, 1971. (Out of print.)
Johnny Cash with Patrick Carr, Cash : the autobiography. New York : Harper,
1997.
John L. Smith, The Johnny Cash discography. Westport, CT : Greenwood
Press, 1985. With supplement (1984-1993) published in 1994.
Official website: http://www.johnnycash.com
Recommended listening:
Bear Family box 1954-1958 (The Man In Black)
The Essential Johnny Cash, 1955-1983 (3 CD's, 75 tracks)
American Recordings, I, II and III