About Johnny Cash
J. R. Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas, on February 26, 1932, the son of cotton farmers. When he was three, his family moved to Dyess, a New Deal farming colony in the Arkansas Delta, where he picked cotton alongside his parents and brothers and sisters. He joined the U.S. Air Force in 1950 and served as a radio intercept operator in Germany, where he bought his first guitar and started writing songs.
Out of the service in 1954, he married Vivian Liberto, moved to Memphis and auditioned for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. "Cry! Cry! Cry!" came out in 1955, "Folsom Prison Blues" soon after, and in 1956 "I Walk the Line" became his first No. 1 country hit. He moved to Columbia Records in 1958. "Ring of Fire," written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore, topped the country chart in 1963. His live album "At Folsom Prison," recorded for the inmates there in January 1968, brought him back to the top, and that March he married June Carter.
From 1969 to 1971 he hosted "The Johnny Cash Show" on ABC, where Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and a young Kris Kristofferson were among his guests. He wore black on stage, and in 1971 he sang why in "Man in Black." With Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings he recorded as the Highwaymen from 1985. In 1994 the producer Rick Rubin stripped his sound back to a voice and a guitar on "American Recordings," and the albums that followed, among them "Unchained" with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, found him a new generation of listeners.
He recorded "Hurt" in 2002, and its video, filmed partly at his house in Hendersonville, Tennessee, was seen as a farewell. June Carter Cash died in May 2003. He kept recording through the summer, and died in Nashville on September 12, 2003, at 71.
A Life in Time
- 1932: Born J. R. Cash on February 26 in Kingsland, Arkansas
- 1935: His family moves to the New Deal farming colony at Dyess, Arkansas
- 1950: Enlists in the U.S. Air Force; serves as a radio intercept operator in West Germany
- 1954: Leaves the Air Force, marries Vivian Liberto and moves to Memphis
- 1955: First single for Sun Records, "Cry! Cry! Cry!" backed with "Hey Porter"; records "Folsom Prison Blues"
- 1956: "I Walk the Line" becomes his first No. 1 country hit
- 1958: Signs with Columbia Records
- 1963: "Ring of Fire," written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore, reaches No. 1 on the country chart
- 1968: Records "At Folsom Prison" on January 13; marries June Carter on March 1
- 1969: "At San Quentin" and "A Boy Named Sue"; "The Johnny Cash Show" begins on ABC
- 1971: Releases "Man in Black"
- 1980: Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame
- 1985: Records "Highwayman" with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson
- 1992: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- 1994: "American Recordings," the first of his albums with producer Rick Rubin
- 1996: "Unchained," with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his band; receives Kennedy Center Honors
- 2002: Records "Hurt" for "American IV: The Man Comes Around"
- 2003: June Carter Cash dies on May 15; he dies in Nashville on September 12, at 71
Connected lives
- Vivian Liberto · First wife
- Tom Petty · Unchained · "I Won't Back Down"
- Hendersonville, TN · Home on Old Hickory Lake
- Dolly Parton · Introduced her at the Grand Ole Opry
- Dyess, AR · Boyhood home
- Sam Phillips · Sun Records
- Willie Nelson · Highwaymen
- Rick Rubin · Producer · American Recordings
- Kris Kristofferson · Newport 1969 · Highwaymen
- Waylon Jennings · Highwaymen
- Carl Perkins · Sun Records · touring band
- June Carter Cash · Wife
- Bob Dylan · "Girl from the North Country"
- Kingsland, AR · Birthplace
- Roy Orbison · Sun Records · "Class of '55"
- Memphis, Tennessee · Sun Records
- Rosanne Cash · Daughter · Songwriter
- Nashville, TN · Died here 2003