biography
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1932– )
|
| biography:
| Musician, born in Kingsland, Arkansas, USA. A singer, guitarist, and songwriter, he was born into a poor cotton-farming family and became one of the greatest stars of country music. He began writing songs while serving in the air force (1950–4), and worked as a door-to-door salesman before recording his first hits for Sun Records, ‘I Walk the Line’ and ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ in 1956. He appeared regularly on the ‘Louisiana Hayride’ and ‘Grand Ole Opry’ radio broadcasts in the early 1960s. In 1960 he performed the first of many free jailhouse shows in San Quentin Prison, and his collaborations with Bob Dylan in that decade underlined his interest in counter-culture ideas in music. He married June Carter (1968), a member of the famous ‘first family’ of country and folk music, and in 1969 began hosting his own television programme, ‘The Johnny Cash Show’, and also appeared in many dramatic film and television roles. He was inducted into the Country Music Association Hall of Fame in 1980. |
|
|
