Johnny Cash - Man In Black

Zip Hoodie: Johnny Cash - Stars T-Shirt
Buy at AllPosters.com

Johnny Cash was born (J.R. Cash)in Kingsland, Arkansas to Ray and Carrie (Rivers) Cash, and raised in Dyess, Arkansas.

Cash was reportedly given the name "J.R." because his parents could not agree on a name, only on initials. When he enlisted in the United States Air Force, the military would not accept initials as his name, so he adopted John R. Cash as his legal name. In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name. His friends and in-laws generally called him John, while his blood relatives usually continued to call him J.R.

Cash was one of seven children: Reba Hancock, Jack, Joanne (Cash-Yates), Tommy, Roy, and Louise Cash Garrett. His younger brother, Tommy Cash, also became a successful country artist.

By age five, J.R. was working in the cotton fields, singing along with his family as they worked. The family farm was flooded on at least one occasion, which later inspired him to write the song Five Feet High And Rising. His family's economic and personal struggles during the Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.

Cash was very close to his brother Jack, who was two years older. In 1944, Jack was pulled into a whirling table saw in the mill where he worked, and cut almost in two. Jack suffered for over a week before he died and Johnny Cash often spoke of the horrible guilt he felt over this incident. According to Cash: The Autobiography, his father was away that morning, but he and his mother, and Jack himself, all had a sense of foreboding about that day. Their mother tried to urge Jack to skip work and go fishing with his J.R. However, Jack insisted on working, as the family needed the money. On his deathbed, Jack said he had visions of heaven and angels.

Decades later, Cash spoke of looking forward to meeting his brother in heaven. He wrote that he had seen his brother many times in his dreams, and that Jack always looked two years older than whatever age Cash himself was at that moment.

Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Johnny began playing guitar and writing songs as a young boy and was taught by his mother and a childhood friend.

In high school he sang on a local radio station; decades later he released an album of traditional gospel songs, called My Mother's Hymn Book. He was also significantly influenced by traditional Irish music that he heard performed weekly by Dennis Day on the Jack Benny radio program.

Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to a U.S. Air Force Security Service unit, assigned as a morse code decoder on Russian Army transmissions, at Landsberg, Germany.

Johnny was honorably discharged on July 3, 1954 and he returned to Texas.

Johnny Cash Photo
8 in. x 10 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com

At the age of 48, Johnny Cash became the youngest living person to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980.

However, even though Johnny's tours were incredibly successful, his his records failed to make a major impact on the country charts. It was in the mid 1980's that he also toured and recorded Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson - a group know as The Highwaymen. The Highwaymen made two hit albums (I own one on DVD myself).

Johnny also started an acting career in 1981 and starred in The Pride of Jesse Hallam, a film about adult illiteracy. His role received great reviews. Johnny also appeared as the 'very special guest star' in an episode of the Muppet Show and as a heroic sheriff in Murder In Coweta County, which co-starred Andy Griffith as his nemesis.

In 1983, Johnny was administered painkillers for a serious abdominal injury which caused a relapse into addiction. However, in 1988 after receiving advice from Doctors to have preventative heart surgery, Cash refused any pain medication - fearing another relapse into dependency.

Cash later claimed that during his heart operation, he had what is called a "near death experience". He said he had visions of Heaven that were so beautiful that he was angry when he woke up alive.

In terms of his recording career, Cash realized that Columbia (his record label of nearly 30 years) was growing indifferent to him and wasn't properly marketing him. It was around this time, that Johnny recorded an intentionally awful song to protest - a self-parody. This was "Chicken in Black" and it was about Johnny's brain being transplanted into a chicken.

"Chicken in Black" turned out to be a larger commercial success than any of his other recent material. However, he was hoping to kill the relationship with the label and it was not long after "Chicken in Black" that Columbia and Cash parted ways.

In 1986, Cash returned to Sun Studios in Memphis and teamed up with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins to create the album Class of '55.

Johnny Cash published his only novel, Man in White, a book about Saul and his conversion to become the Apostle Paul, in 1986.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Johnny Cash Framed CD
14.5 in. x 20.5 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com