Johnny Cash is an American singer, composer, guitarist, actor and writer. He is one of the best-selling music artists of the 20th century. The greatest fame brought him such compositions as "I Walk the Line", "Hey Porter", "Folsom Prison Blues" and others.
Biography
Johnny Cash was born on February 26, 1932 in the small American city of Kingsland, Arkansas. He became the fourth child of seven children born to the family of farmers Carrie Clovery and Ray Cash. At the age of three, the boy with his parents, brothers and sisters moved to the north-east of Arkansas in the city of Dayess.
Johnny Cash House in Dyessa Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki / Wikimedia Commons
Here, Caches continued to farm. Young Johnny took an active part in all the work in the cotton fields, while singing along to his family members. It was the songs that helped them brighten up workdays. However, the economic crisis, known as the Great Depression, did not allow Caches to cope with financial problems.
In addition, in 1944, they lost their 15-year-old son, Jack. He died in an accident that occurred during work at the mill. Johnny was very friendly with his brother and was very upset by the death of a loved one. Later, the difficulties experienced by Johnny Cash as a child were reflected in the work of the singer.
The creation of the first compositions was inspired by gospel and Irish music. The first song was written by Johnny Cash at the age of 12. Around the same time, he learned to play the guitar and began performing at a local radio station.
In 1950, Johnny joined the US Air Force, where he intercepted messages transmitted in encoded form using Morse code. In the same years, he and his friends from the US Air Force created a musical group called "Landsberg Barbarians" and wrote the famous song "Folsom Prison Blues".
In July 1954, Johnny Cash decided to end his military service and returned with the rank of senior sergeant.
Music career
Johnny Cash tried himself in various professions before deciding to devote his life to music and became one of the founders of the band "Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two". As part of the musical collective, he performed gospel songs. When the musicians decided to record their album and turned to the Sun Records studio, they received an unexpected offer from the founder of this label.
Sam Phillips, a music producer, recommended that Johnny and his friends concentrate on performing country and blues songs, as he considered gospel not the most sought after genre in the music market. This led to the release of the songs "Hey, Porter" and "Cry! Cry! Cry!", Which were a great success with the audience. And they were followed by the musical compositions "Folsom Prison Blues" and "So Doggone Lonesome", which also became hits.
Johnny Cash, 1970 Photo: Dillan Stradlin / Wikimedia Commons
But the real glory to Johnny Cash came after the song "I Walk The Line", which in 1956 topped the charts of America. A year later, he introduced the Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar album. For the releasing label Sun Records, this songbook has become one of the most successful and is their first LP record.
In 1958, Johnny Cash signed a lucrative contract with Columbia Records, after which his single “Don't Take Your Guns to Town” led America’s biggest music charts.
In the 60s, the singer successfully continued to study music and managed to star in several films. He can be seen in the American television series Rainbow Quest and the crime drama Five Minutes of Life.
But by the mid-70s, cache began to decline in popularity. The reason for this was the musician's addiction to alcohol and drugs, with which he fought until the end of his life.
In the 80s, Johnny Cash toured with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Chris Kirstofferson. The joint work of four successful and talented country singers led to the appearance of three hit albums: "Highwaymen", "Highwaymen 2" and "The Road Goes on Forever".
Johnny Cash at a meeting with Richard Nixon, 1972 Photo: Nixon's official photographer Ollie Atkins / Wikimedia Commons
In 1997, the singer introduced an autobiography entitled "Cash: The Autobiography", which was a continuation of his book "Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words".
In 2000, Cash's 85th album, "American III: Solitary Man", was introduced. And a few years later he released the collection of songs "American IV: The Man Comes Around". The album was the last one published during the singer’s life and received the status of "platinum".
