Johnny Cash Biography
Fast Facts
Born J.R. Cash on February 26, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas
Served in the Air Force 1950-54
In 1955, Cash was awarded the opportunity to record his first single "Hey Porter" with the Sun Records label
Went on to record more than 1500 songs which predominantly expressed his empathy for the downtrodden and socially outcast.
Placed 48 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop charts.
He won 11 Grammys, the most recent including the 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2002 shared Grammy Award for Best Country Album
He was successful as a solo artist, part of a duet, as the leader of a trio, and as part of the quartet The Highwaymen
Hosted his own T.V. show on ABC...The Johnny Cash Show (1969-71)
His 1975 autobiography The Man in Black has sold more than 1.5 million copies
Johnny's influence on younger musicians is still amazingly strong.
He has 4 daughters (Roseanne, Cindy, Kathy and Tara) and a son (John Carter), all of whom have performed with him at one time or another.
Roseanne Cash has carved out a successful niche for herself in the music industry.
Click on the link above to buy Sam Phillip's Biography
Johnny Cash Biography
"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."
J.R. Cash's beginnings were quite humble as he was born into a poor sharecropper's family. He began picking cotton alongside his family members when he was 5 years old, and they would sing as they worked together. His dad had a severe drinking habit and was physically and emotionally abusive.
Johnny was very close to his brother, Jack, who died from a terrible accident when he was young...he was pulled into a whirring table saw at the mill and almost cut in two. This affected Johnny deeply, as he felt guilty since he had gone fishing that day, and sixty years later he would still talk of the day he would be re-united with his beloved brother when he passed over into the next life.
Johnny would listen to the radio almost constantly and was influenced by gospel music. He began playing the guitar and writing songs when he was 12 and performed on the radio for the first time while in high school.
He joined the Air Force as a radio operator and it was here he was given the name John, since they wouldn't accept initials as a proper name. As an airman, while in Germany Cash wrote one of his most popular tunes...Folsom Prison Blues.
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